Our big build to connect Australia's future

We are well underway with the process of planning, trenching, ducting and installing almost 14,000 kilometres of fibre optic cables crisscrossing our country. 

Along these routes, we are laying two cables - a pink express path and a blue foundation path.

These cables will carry Australia’s digital future.

Pink will service high-speed, long-distance connections between major capital cities, so big businesses can efficiently and reliably share the data that helps underpin our digital lives. 

These ultra-high-speed routes will help make data-hungry technologies like AI more feasible at scale, and will help connect people seamlessly despite the thousands of kilometres between them.

The blue cable is a nod to our heritage, and an important part of the Telstra story. The foundation cable we are laying allows for a future build-out to the regional areas that it passes through.

We’ve done this with an eye to the future because we know Australia’s regions have the potential to be a digital economy powerhouse.

We are investing up to $1.6 billion into several key fibre initiatives: the intercity fibre network project, expanding the fibre footprint in the Pilbara, and partnering with Viasat for the Viasat-3 ground network. 

Our goal is for intercity fibre to stretch across Australia from east to west and north to south - including the all-important Darwin to Adelaide route, which positions not just the NT but the entire nation with a strategic launch pad for Australia’s connectivity to the rest of the world.

We’re building in extreme conditions

With more than 15 live construction sites in action, crews operating in some of the most remote areas, and around 1,800 kilometres of fibre already in the ground, we are already making a real-world impact with this ambitious network building project. 

Due to the reach and scale of the network, the build is very complex. We are building across a wide range of challenging and often rugged Australian environments from mountain ranges, to desserts, rock and water. Water crossings are not uncommon. 

We recently completed laying around 1km of our new intercity fibre on the floor of Sydney Harbour, providing a critical connection between the north and south sides of Sydney’s business districts. 

This complex project involved months of planning and approvals, working with the Sydney Harbour Authority and Harbour Master to ensure a safe and secure construction site within one of the world’s busiest harbours. 

Microsoft is on board as a foundational partner

In July 2022 we signed a five-year strategic agreement with Microsoft to support Australia’s digital growth. 

And now, Microsoft has selected Telstra as a strategic partner to extend its AI infrastructure in Australia to serve the growing demand for AI.  As a foundational partner on Telstra’s new ultra-fast intercity fibre network, Microsoft has now signed contracts for the first routes and has engaged Telstra InfraCo as part of its strategy to deliver enhanced connectivity solutions within Australia and to power more AI capabilities for its customers.

Our intercity fibre network routes connect Australia to the world, seamlessly transitioning terrestrial fibre to our extensive international subsea fibre network. This partnership, which involves building high capacity intercity fibre routes for Microsoft, further enables Microsoft to boost its capacity and achieve end-to-end connectivity across key telecommunications routes in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific region

The people and the product connecting Australia around the world

Our infrastructure build partners Ventia and Fulton Hogan are from the best in their field, and we work collaboratively with them to ensure we are designing and constructing the network in the most efficient and sustainable way. 

Australia’s unique environmental conditions present challenges in building and maintaining complicated networks like this big build - so we needed a team with experience of our wide brown land.

Our fibre supplier is Prysmian Australia, and together we’ve researched and co-developed the new state-of-the-art fibre optic cable for our intercity fibre rollout. That work in Australia, Europe and the US was led by Prysmian’s Sydney lab, optimising the cable technology for Australia’s unique environments and often abrasive soil conditions.

We’re building the future, and it will be big

Eventually, our intercity fibre network routes will connect Australia to the globe, seamlessly transitioning from terrestrial fibre to subsea, including using some of our own extensive international subsea cable network. 

Our intercity fibre network build is undeniably and unashamedly about the future – it’s an investment supporting our growth as well as Australia’s, connectivity, and digital prosperity.   

Boosting connectivity for the cities and regions of our country is vital as workforces become more distributed with remote working, and as demand for online education, high-definition entertainment and AI grows.

We’ve been planning this for some time, and as we continue to put more fibre in the ground, it’s exciting to think of the opportunities that lie ahead. 

We are confident that our project will deliver a more reliable and resilient fibre network to support today and tomorrow’s economies, and will contribute toward a more connected, innovative and inclusive Australia.