New Zealand has the chance to boost its economic growth by becoming the data-storage hub of the Pacific, says the company planning the country's second international internet link.
Pacific Fibre chief executive Mark Rushworth said New Zealand should follow the lead of Iceland, which is setting itself up as a key data site between Britain and the United States.
The services of international data centres, or giant warehouses filled with servers, are in hot demand as the amount of information stored on the internet skyrockets.
"Iceland is very much positioning itself at the moment as the data centre between London and New York. It has an abundance of electricity and, of course, you can't export electricity so what they're saying is that they can export data," Rushworth said.
"We see a similar vision for New Zealand as it's politically safe and neutral and would be a fantastic location for data centres between Asia and the United States."
