Telstra set to double capacity of inter-capital fibre network

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 13 May 2010 16:54

Business IT - Networking

Telstra has upgraded its Sydney-Melbourne optical fibre network to operate with 40Gbps per wavelength, doubling capacity and says it will upgrade other major inter-city routes over the coming year.

These networks presently use 10Gbps per wavelength, but it is not possible to transmit 40Gbps on all wavelengths, hence capacity has not been quadrupled. The Marconi MHL 3000 platform deployed by Telstra is capable of delivering up to 80 channels at 40Gbps per channel over a single fibre pair. 10Gbps systems typically go to 160 channels.

Telstra COO, Michael Rocca, said traffic on the Sydney-Melbourne route was doubling every 12 months. "This is the first of our intercapital routes to be upgraded and we expect to carry out similar upgrades to other major cities over the coming year."

The upgrade was supplied by the incumbent supplier of the optical transmission systems, Ericsson, and Sam Saba CEO, Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, said that operators worldwide were planning the deployment of 40Gbps DWDM technology to cope with the fast-growing demand for broadband bandwidth.

"Ericsson's Marconi MHL 3000 DWDM solution enables Telstra to offer customers an improved service with minimal investment and changes to infrastructure," said Saba.

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