The fine print is not so promising for business and residential internet customers as the 50% Telecom-owned cable operator lowers its pricing by 44%. Tuanz wonders if the cut is aimed in part at protecting Southern Cross' monopoly as NZ's only broadband connection to the outside world.

Southern Cross Cable says it can now extend the life of its cable to 2025, thanks to recent upgrades, and more in the offing.

Previously, the company had only signed contracts committing to service up to 2020.

The Southern Cross Cable runs for 28,500km, linking Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the mainland US.

Sales and marketing manager Ross Pfeffer told Australia’s CommsDay that Southern Cross had completed an upgrade in April that took total capacity to 1.2 terabits per second.

The threat to the 50% Telecom-owned Southern Cross Cable monopoly has moved another step closer to reality.

Pacific Fibre, backed by rich listers Sir Stephen Tindall, Sam Morgan and Rod Drury, today announced an alliance with Hong Kong and Singapore headquartered Pacnet to build a $US400 million undersea cable between Australia, New Zealand and the US.

The two companies will begin the process of selecting a vendor to lay the cable shortly, and say they will have it in service by 2013.