Business & Finance Club - Australia : A fibre optic cable linking Australia, New Zealand and the US is to be built for an estimated $US400 million ($A443.58 million).

The high network efficiency, 13,600km Pacific Fibre cable will be built jointly by Pacific Fibre Ltd and Asian telecommunication services provider Pacnet, both companies said in a statement on Wednesday.

The cable will land in Sydney, Auckland and Los Angeles and will be ready for service in 2016.

The companies will co-own the cable and share responsibility for the cable supply contract,operations and maintenance costs.

They said they would begin selecting a vendor to build the cable shortly.

Pacnet chief executive Bill Barney said the investment was an important part of the company's strategy to expand its subsea cable infrastructure into Australasia.

He said the cable would support Australia's proposed national broadband network (NBN).

"As Australia and New Zealand look towards deploying national broadband networks that will raise broadband penetration and access speeds, this new cable that we are building with Pacific Fibre will deliver the enhanced international connectivity that is essential to support these broadband initiatives," he said.