Optus HFC upgrade spend one tenth that of Telstra

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 01 December 2009 11:59

Business IT - Networking

There's a $275m disparity between what Telstra says it spent to upgrade its Melbourne HFC network to Docsis 3.0 and what Optus says it will spend doing the same thing in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Last month when Telstra announced completion of the upgrade of its Melbourne HFC network to Docsis 3.0, Optus issued a short statement saying that it too was upgrading its HFC networks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Docsis 3.0.

It has now put a figure on the cost of this with CEO, Paul O'Sullivan telling a CEDA lunch meeting: "I am very pleased to announce today that Optus is investing another $25 million to upgrade our (HFC) cable network in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to be capable of speeds of up to 100 Mbps that will rival the best in the world."

This is a massive disparity with the claimed cost of Telstra's Melbourne-only upgrade. When Telstra announced plans for this in March, it said: "Work will start immediately with the installation of DOCSIS 3.0 software and related infrastructure in the Melbourne cable network. Telstra will invest about $300 million in the cable upgrade this calendar year."

iTWire has sought comment from both parties and will update this article if and when any further information becomes available.