Pacific Internet (PacNet) and Asia Netcom today announced the start of their operational merger and unveiled plans for the enlarged company to operate under the unified brand name PacNet. The amalgamation of the two companies’ businesses will result in the creation of Asia’s leading independent telecoms service provider with the largest regional footprint and the region’s most extensive submarine cable network. Commenting on the tie-up, PacNet chief executive officer Bill Barney said ‘The next decade is all about Asia, and PacNet is poised to be a unique ‘pure play’ provider focused on delivering solid communication solutions within Asia and into the region from anywhere in the world … We are pleased to be one of the region’s premier providers of broadband. We have unique assets that are not easily replicable.’
PacNet’s primary asset is its EAC-C2C cable infrastructure, a 36,800km submarine cable network that has capacity of 10.24Tbps of traffic, of which only 240Gbps is currently lit. Although the EAC-C2C network would cost an estimated USD4 billion to replace – based on current market prices – analysts estimate the real value of the infrastructure is closer to USD10.3 billion. The enlarged entity plans to utilise its assets to provide products and services for retail consumers, Fortune 500 companies, as well as service the wholesale carrier market. PacNet offers a comprehensive portfolio of products including ADSL broadband connections for home offices, MPLS-IPVPN services for global multinational corporations and wholesale capacity for carriers. The company has also embarked on its next generation network (NGN) upgrade which will increase network efficiency and reliability on the EAC-C2C cable system.