Australia - Telecoms - International Networks

Synopsis

Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure is advanced and extensive, spanning the large island continent and extends across the Tasman and into Asia. It is these international developments, including backbones across the Tasman Sea and to Asia and the USA, both undersea cable and satellite based, that this report covers.

By 2008, Telstra and technology partner Alcatel-Lucent launched the Sydney end of a 9,000 km cable to Hawaii, which competes against rivals Southern Cross, Pipe Networks (which announced a second cable to New Zealand by 2013), Australia-Japan Cable and the potential for a new cable connection between Western Australia to Asia.

In 2010 with the National Broadband Network underway the increase in use of undersea bandwidth will expand over the next 10 years as high speed connections become available across Australia. The satellite market will also be boosted over this period as remote users get increased speeds as new satellites are launched and connect remote communities. Please note that satellite networks are covered in separate reports: Australia - Telecoms - High-speed satellite services and Australia - Mobile Satellite Services.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. International cable links
  • 2.1 Sydney to Hawaii Cable – Telstra and Alcatel-Lucent
  • 2.2 Pipe Networks
    • 2.2.1 PPC-1 cable from Sydney to Guam
    • 2.2.2 Cable to New Zealand with Kordia – PPC-2 canned
  • 2.3 Southern Cross Cable Network
    • 2.3.1 Overview of network and cable
    • 2.3.2 Cable life extended to 2025
  • 2.4 Telstra, Optus and AAPT activities
• 3. Recent developments
  • 3.1 Competition puts prices down
  • 3.2 Pacific Fibre – ‘Pacific’ cable in 2013
• 4. Other projects
  • 4.1 WA based Ochre – cable projects
  • 4.2 Australia Japan Cable (AJC)
  • 4.3 Asia Pacific Cable Network (APCN)
• 5. Regulatory issues
  • 5.1 Permits for submarine cables
  • 5.2 Submarine cables protection zones review – 2010
• 6. Satellite services (separate reports)
  • 6.1 High-speed satellite services
  • 6.2 Mobile satellite services
• 7. Related reports

• Exhibit 1 – Telstra submarine projects
• Exhibit 2 – AAPT international network
• Exhibit 3 – Does Australia have enough international bandwidth
• Exhibit 4 - The AJC system has six landing points: