Media Release : Cable cut reminds us of the risk of isolation
The news that the Southern Cross Cable suffered its second cut in three months is a timely reminder of our reliance on that network for international connectivity from New Zealand to the rest of the world. Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ) CEO, Craig Young said “while we recognise that the Southern Cross cable is well maintained and managed, there will always be the chance of incidents caused by third parties that remind us of our reliance on that single cable system.”
Today’s cut was reported to be caused overnight when a contractor working near the cable in the state of Oregon cut through it with a digger. Thankfully the design on the system as a figure eight enables the traffic to continue to flow through the other part of the network, but that leaves New Zealand families and businesses at risk of losing connectivity to the world if a second cut happens at the same time.
“We continue to support the development of a second undersea cable system to the continental United States to ensure diversity of supply and to reduce the risk of events like this having major flow on impacts on our economy” said Mr Young. “This is about securing our ability to communicate with the world and should be seen as a priority by the Government as a key enabler to businesses making the most of the ultra-fast broadband networks being built in New Zealand.”
ENDS
A second cable would help reduce international bandwidth prices too.
With a lower risk any second cable brings, it should help to allow for new services like local cloud storage ( mega.nz is hosted in germany from memory) because international bandwidth prices are just way too high to have it local.
Another thing that a second cable might bring is better bandwidth at peak times, and major ISP’s (spark/vodafone) might offer true unlimited bandwidth without p2p throttling (which currently is bad for p2p games pc/console )
I have no faith in the "national" Government to help reduce the risk and support a second cable, they blew the chance when pacific fibre slipped away and dissapeared .
A second cable would help reduce international bandwidth prices too.
With a lower risk any second cable brings, it should help to allow for new services like local cloud storage ( mega.nz is hosted in germany from memory) because international bandwidth prices are just way too high to have it local.
Another thing that a second cable might bring is better bandwidth at peak times, and major ISP’s (spark/vodafone) might offer true unlimited bandwidth without p2p throttling (which currently is bad for p2p games pc/console )
I have no faith in the "national" Government to help reduce the risk and support a second cable, they blew the chance when pacific fibre slipped away and dissapeared .