A United States-based undersea cabling company has been picked to build a high-speed internet cable linking New Zealand, Australia and the US.
Pacific Fibre has signed a supply agreement with TE SubCom to supply and lay the almost 13,000 kilometre cable.
TE SubCom is a subsidiary of TE Connectivity, a $12 billion firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
It has built some of the world's major undersea cables and helped build the 8000 kilometre Pacific Rim East cable which connects Hawaii and New Zealand.
Pacific Fibre says the project should be launched in the first quarter of 2014.
The network had previously been estimated to cost $US400 million to build.
Pacific Fibre's backers include Trade Me creator Sam Morgan and Warehouse founder Sir Stephen Tindall.
