Vocus has completed and lit its 2,000km Horizon fibre network between Perth and Port Hedland, providing the Pilbara and Mid West regions with a second long-haul fibre route and direct connectivity into Asia for the first time. The network, which runs inland through Western Australia’s resources heartland, is designed to support growing demand for cloud, AI and data-intensive applications while improving connectivity resilience across one of Australia’s most economically significant regions.
For decades, long-haul connectivity into the Pilbara relied on a single route, despite the region generating a substantial share of Australia’s export earnings through mining and resources activity. Vocus said Horizon introduces long-awaited competition and route diversity while creating a new pathway into international digital infrastructure.
The project marks the first major infrastructure milestone under the company’s Vocus 2030 strategy and forms part of a broader effort to expand Australia’s digital backbone as demand for AI and cloud services accelerates. “Digital inclusion is economic inclusion, and investments such as Vocus’s Project Horizon are delivering connectivity across regional and remote Western Australia,” said Western Australian Minister for Regional Development and Science and Innovation Stephen Dawson.
“This expanded capacity increases competition and helps lower the cost of data, making internet services more affordable and reliable for regional and remote communities.”
Fibre, edge data centres and AI workloads
A key feature of Horizon is its integration with new digital infrastructure being deployed across the Pilbara. The network connects directly into NEXTDC’s recently developed edge data centres in Newman and Port Hedland, allowing data generated by mining operations, industrial facilities and regional businesses to be processed closer to where it is created.
As automation, AI and real-time operational technologies become more prevalent across the resources sector, reducing latency and avoiding long-haul backhaul to Perth or the eastern states is becoming increasingly important.
“By connecting directly into our facilities in Port Hedland and Newman, Horizon strengthens the critical infrastructure ecosystem supporting one of the world’s most important resources regions,” said Claire Sangster, head of regional sales at NEXTDC. “As operations become increasingly automated, data-intensive and AI-enabled, resilient, low-latency connectivity and local digital infrastructure are becoming essential.”
“The combination of Horizon’s high-capacity fibre and our edge data centres will help customers access cloud, AI and advanced digital capabilities closer to where data is generated and used,” she added.
Vocus said Horizon is capable of carrying up to 38Tbps today, with expansion capacity beyond 90 Tbps as demand grows. The operator said the network was designed with significant headroom to accommodate future growth in AI workloads, industrial automation and cloud services across the region.
“Automation, remote operations and data-intensive processing are already running across this region and they are growing quickly,” said Vocus chief customer officer Matt Walsh. “We’ve put the capacity the region needs in five years in the ground today.”
The project was developed in partnership with Fortescue, which provided access to land and rail corridors used to construct the route. “Fortescue has partnered with Vocus on the Horizon project since 2021,” said Walsh. “Their commitment to the communities they operate in is clear, and they understand that better connectivity lifts the whole region, not just one operation.”
Completing a national fibre ring
Beyond serving Western Australia’s resources sector, Horizon also plays a broader role in Vocus’s national network strategy. The new route completes the western section of what the company describes as its “figure of eight” national network architecture. The design provides multiple paths for traffic to traverse Australia, allowing services to be rerouted if a major cable failure occurs.
For customers in the Pilbara, that means traffic can travel south to Perth via Horizon, across alternative terrestrial routes through Darwin and Adelaide, or through international submarine cable systems.
The network also connects into Vocus’s Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable, providing a more direct route into Asia than traditional paths that backhaul traffic through Perth or Australia’s east coast.
The geography is significant. Port Hedland is closer to Singapore than Sydney, making direct Asian connectivity increasingly attractive for cloud, enterprise and AI workloads that operate across the region.
Horizon’s reach also extends to Australia’s research and education sector. “This investment in regional WA, in partnership with Vocus, will help scientists working on some of the most significant research projects in history to collaborate more effectively with international partners, accelerate the transfer of research data, and supports the development of the WA space sector,” said Angus Griffin, director of customer relations at AARNet.
“By expanding the capacity and resilience of Australia’s National Research and Education Network, we are ensuring our researchers are equipped to tackle some of the world’s most complex scientific challenges and maintain Australia’s position at the forefront of discovery.”