[November 14, 2023]
Telstra chief executive Vicky Brady announced on Tuesday that Telstra’s programme of intercity fibre extension and upgrade has reached the stage of detailed planning for five priority routes, as first announced in August 2022. One route will link directly between Adelaide and Darwin where it can connect into sub-sea cables arriving from Asia. It is expected this link will be completed in 2026/27.
The overall investment in the programme will be up to AU$ 1.6 billion. Sydney-Melbourne has also been announced as a priority route and construction is already underway with 400 km of cable already laid.
Brady sees the quality of networks as playing a key role in Australia’s economic growth as completed projects are promised to deliver speeds of 55 terabits per second: “Connectivity will continue to play a key role in our economy and there is enormous potential for digital technologies to rewrite Australia’s growth equation”.
While the investment will initially focus on the connections between capital cities, it will in time move beyond into regional and remote Australia: “Importantly, we have future-proofed the design and given ourselves the ability to extend this connectivity into regional and remote communities as demand grows and other partnerships arise, which will open up opportunities for regionally based industries and businesses.”
Once the Intercity Fibre projects are completed it will increase Telstra’s total fibre cable network by over 50% to around 14,000 km. Brady has also announced that Telstra plans to upgrade fibre infrastructure in Western Australia’s Pilbara region to ugrade connectivity for its customers in the mining, energy and resources sectors.