September would still see state-owned communications company Kordia presenting a trans-Tasman cable to its board.

It should be noted that the process that could have led the company to spend $15 million to become a cornerstone tenant was pulled.

It was expressed by Kordia general manager for strategic development, Susie Stone that apart from having strong support from the market, Kordia also had enormous customer interest in the venture.

She added further that they fully understand Reannz's need to secure connectivity for the KAREN network when its current commercial arrangements expire in September.

It was always maintained by Kordia that until 2011, its submarine cable could not be ready. It should be noted that the company has still not decided to move ahead with the project however it confirmed again today that lower-cost international bandwidth was mandatory for the Government's broadband policy.

Ms Stone informed, "We are going to our board in September with a business case for the cable project as planned, and look forward to future engagement with Reannz once they have satisfied their immediate need for trans-Tasman capacity."

It has been estimated that the cable project, which would compete with the Southern Cross Cable, would cost near about $200m.

(Via TopNews New Zealand. Contributed by Surjit Singh)