The board of Pacific Crossing, operator of the second largest transpacific fibre optic cable, will meet this week to consider bids for the company – a transaction that would mark the end of a speculative era for infrastructure assets in the region.

According to two people close to the sale process, NTT Communications, a unit of Japanese telecommunications group Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, and Hong Kong-based Pacnet, operator of the largest regional submarine cable network, each tendered bids of $80m-$90m ahead of the auction’s close on Friday in New York. The sale is being run by Blackstone, the private equity firm.