The company planning a high speed trans-Pacific internet cable is confident it will raise the money it needs to complete the project, then sign on even more telecommunications firms.
Pacific Fibre - set up in 2010 by local businesses and information technology investors - is constructing an undersea high-speed internet cable to boost data links between New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
It now has $US200 million in advance sales and hopes to sign more customers before the cable goes live.
Chief executive Mark Rushworth says the high speed cable opens up competition in the market, including against Telecom's Southern Cross Cable.
"By the time the cable is ... two years into operations, you'd expect all the main telcos in NZ, Australia and even in the USA to have some capacity on Pacific Fibre," he said. "They are all looking for network diversity".
Four firms previously signed include the Crown-owned research network REANNZ, the Australian internet provider iiNet, and Vodafone, but the fifth customer, an American telecommunications company, has not yet been officially named.
Earlier this year, the Australian Financial Review newspaper questioned Pacific Fibre's ability to meet its $486 million fundraising target.
