Southern Cross takes lead roll in setting Australia's broadband future

Southern Cross Cable Network, provider of international bandwidth between Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, and the United States, has become a Principal Sponsor of the SPAN Broadband Xchange Project.

Southern Cross Cable Network provides the international backbone that is enabling the widespread rollout of broadband in Australia and is helping to transform global communications, say company representatives.

"We can see that the broadband wave is starting to swamp everything and the way in which we use and look at the Web is undergoing a fundamental shift," contends Southern Cross director Asia Pacific, Ross Pfeffer.

Recent developments within the broadband market indicate that exponential growth is occurring within Australia, he says, with analysts predicting an Australian market potential in excess of $2 billion per annum by 2005.

"The Broadband Xchange Project has been developed to demonstrate the benefits of broadband to typical business and consumer audiences and to accelerate the adoption of the technology in Australia," he explains. "It is designed to help them experience the advantages of moving to high-speed broadband access and of joining the new Internet paradigm that will soon dominate."

The recent launch of the Broadband Xchange website has been one of the Project's key initiatives. The site, located at www.broadbandxchange.org, has been established to help potential users assess the most appropriate option for their Internet solution.

Southern Cross joins other sponsors including Alcatel, Microsoft, and Telstra. A growing number of service providers are joining the principal sponsors to assist in raising the profile of broadband as an Internet access solution. They are contributing information on the range of technology options, broadband benefits, and case studies, as part of the 'plain English' content on the Broadband Xchange website
www.broadbandxchange.org.

Other key developments on the horizon for Southern Cross include the commissioning of a new access point on the US mainland at San Jose, CA, in August 2002 and the confirmation of the company's annual Customer Meeting at Hawaii in October 2002.

Southern Cross has offices in Bermuda, Sydney, Auckland, and Wellington. For more information, visit the network's Web site at www.southerncrosscables.com.