Interest in Hawaiki’s new 14,000 km trans-Pacific cable continues to grow apace, with cable developer and owner Hawaiki Cable Limited announcing another customer signature.

New Zealand ISP Orcon has confirmed its intention to acquire international bandwidth on the New Zealand/Australia-US segments of the Hawaiki submarine cable system.

The letter of intent outlines a multi-million dollar deal with Orcon, who was acquired by a consortium of local businesspeople earlier this year, and will see the ISP purchase 40Gbps capacity in year one, with substantial increases planned in additional years, that it said will help to unlock the potential of New Zealand’s broadband market.

The cable is scheduled for completion in late 2015 and will link New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii to the US west coast.

In July this year, Hawaiki signed a memorandum of understanding with the regional economic development body Northland Inc. to land its cable in Whangarei. And last month TPG Telecom Limited group (ASX: TPM) signed a letter of intent confirming its intention to acquire fibre capacity on the Australia-US segment of Hawaki’s cable.

Orcon CEO Greg McAlister said the decision to partner Hawaiki stemmed from the need to secure competitively priced international capacity to support Orcon’s continued growth, and the growing demands of New Zealand internet users.

“The country’s bandwidth requirements are more than doubling year-on-year, and with the growth of video services, and proliferation of devices, this growth rate could even increase.

“We are really excited to be able to work with a new cable provider to secure a substantial amount of bandwidth. In fact, it’s imperative to New Zealand’s development that we have a second cable network. Competition leads to better prices, and we’ll be able to offer these in turn to our customers.”

Hawaiki Cable CEO Rémi Galasso said the agreement with Orcon was another important milestone. “We are building momentum and the commitment of Orcon brings us another step closer to system deployment. Companies like Orcon see the future and advantages of a future-proof cable system that links New Zealand directly to the US and the rest of the world.”

About Hawaiki Cable

Hawaiki Cable is a New Zealand registered bandwidth supplier in the Pacific submarine cable market, and the owner and developer of the Hawaiki submarine cable system. The Hawaiki cable is a repeatered submarine cable system with a design capacity of 20 Tbps linking Whangarei, Sydney, Hawaii and the US West coast.

About Orcon®

Orcon is New Zealand's fourth biggest ISP, and the third largest internet wholesaler in New Zealand. Orcon employs around 200 people and provides services to more than 60,000 New Zealand businesses and homes.