The Internet – more, faster and cheaper

“At the centre of the global Internet revolution is an almost insatiable hunger for bandwidth. Users want more, faster and cheaper,” said Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung, marking the event.
Laying the 30,500 kilometres of the Southern Cross Cable – $2.2 billion investment – started last July and finished in May. The cable lies on the Pacific floor to the west coast of the United States, and to Australia in figure of eight.
For most of the cable’s length it is only 18mm in diameter.
At the core of the cable, up to eight strands of glass, each less than the width of human hair, carry enough traffic to allow for every man, woman and child in New Zealand to simultaneously make phone call across the cable with plenty of capacity to spare.
Telecom has 50 percent share in the project ($1 billion), venture between Cable and Wireless Optus (40 percent) and MCI Worldcom (10 percent.)