Pacific Internet and Asia Netcom have completed their operational merger and unveiled their new name, Pacnet.

According to Dennis Muscat, Senior Vice President, South Asia, Pacnet, the Australian branch of Pacific Internet, will now have access to a much wider range of products and services than under the previous Pacific Internet banner.

The key asset behind Pacnet's growth is its EAC-C2C cable infrastructure, a 36,800 km submarine cable network that can carry up to 10.24 Tbps of capacity, of which only 240 Gbps is currently lit. The EAC-C2C network has an estimated value of US$4 billion - based on the cost of building a similar infrastructure.

Bill Barney, CEO of Pacnet said with the two companies merged, its portfolio of products now ranges from providing ADSL broadband connections into home offices, to industry leading Multiprotocol Label Switching-Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (MPLS-IPVPN) services for global multinational corporations and wholesale capacity for carriers.

According to Muscat one of the key success drivers for Pacnet is its people, which now number about 1,400 after the merger.

"Pacnet currently has 1,400 staff across the region and 170 in Australia, we expect to grow staff as our business grows," he said. "We will operate from five Australian offices: North Sydney (formerly Pacific Internet), CBD Sydney (formerly Asia Netcom), Brisbane, Newcastle and Melbourne (a combination of Pacific Internet & ANC staff)."

Muscat said as part of the company's plans to meet the recent surge of bandwidth demand in Asia, Pacnet has already embarked on its Next Generation Network.

On the table are also plans for a new Trans-Pacific cable; further expansion into key regional markets; and new partnerships to enable both organic and inorganic growth for the company, he said.