The company signed the memorandum of understanding with Pacnet in July last year, shortly after the announcement of the fibre initiative, which would enable the companies to each operate a fibre pair on the cable and jointly oversee cable supply contracts as well as operations and maintenance costs.

At the time, Pacnet chief executive, Bill Barney, said the joint venture would form part of the company's attempts to expend its Pacific and south east Asian network coverage. The company was also expected to provide its experience in building similar submarine cables, as it is the largest investor in the 36,800-kilometre EAC-C2C submarine cable spanning several Asian countries.

However, Rushworth confirmed to that the memorandum with Pacnet had lapsed in late February and would not be signed, citing inability to meet key performance indicators under the agreement.

"While we would have to fund the full build cost, [investors are] comfortable we can do it," he said.

Pacific Fibre has already forged ahead with supply contracts for the cable, this week releasing a request for proposal for the build to five major vendors. It will be headed by recently appointed business development director, Mike Constable, who had held the same position at Pacnet and, according to the company, had played a "key role" in developing the submarine cable operator's Unity system.