Spark New Zealand and Vodafone, New Zealand’s two dominant telecommunications providers, in partnership with Australian provider Telstra, will spend US$70 million building a trans-Tasman submarine cable to bolster broadband traffic between the neighbouring countries and the rest of the world. The new Tasman Global Access Cable will boost broadband connections between the two countries, with Spark investing US$32 million in the …

Shares of Arvida Group, the new retirement village operator, rose 2 percent on its NZX debut after its initial public offer raised $80 million in capital which will be used to reduce debt. The stock first traded at 97 cents, before dropping back to its offer price of 95 cents, valuing the company at $215 million. The Christchurch-based company is integrating 17 retirement villages and aged …

The New Zealand dollar tumbled about 1 US cent after US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen indicated higher US interest rates are coming, and was more upbeat about the state of the world’s biggest economy. The kiwi recently traded at 76.88 US cents, dropping from 77.90 cents before Yellen’s press conference after traders initially thought the Federal Open Market Committee …