Nextgen starts laying Perth to Geraldton cable

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 23 May 2010 15:55

Business IT - Networking

Nextgen Networks has commenced construction, under the Backhaul Blackspots programme, of a 426 kilometre, fibre optic cable that will serve an addressable market of 35,000 people along its route from Perth to Geraldton.

Access points will be established at eight sites: Bluff Point, Geraldton, Geraldton South, Port Denison, Dongara, Arramall, Boothendara and Rig Road.

Speaking at the launch, NextGen CEO, Phil Sykes said: "The fibre cable we are laying is future proof with virtually infinite capacity'¦Each fibre can simultaneously carry 44 different information streams, and each of those streams can carry up to 40Gbps for a total capacity per fibre of 1,760Gbps."

Many fibres are already using 100Gbps technology, but with fewer wavelengths than when operating at lower bandwidths. So an upgrade to 100Mbps would give a significant capacity boost. A more important determinant of total capacity is the number of fibre pairs in the cable. Sykes did not give out that information.

He said that construction was already underway on two of the Backhaul blackspot links: Brisbane - Mt Isa - Tennant Creek - Darwin and Broken Hill to Mildura, and said: "We will shortly commence construction of new fibre links in other parts of the country including: '¢ Adelaide to Victor Harbour, South Australia; Mildura to Gawler in South Australia; and finally '¢ Sale to Wonthaggi in Gippsland Victoria."

Separately, Nextgen is expanding its own network. Sykes said. "In addition to the Regional Backbone program, Nextgen has started building a further long distance fibre link from Tarcoola in South Australia, on our existing Perth - Adelaide fibre right up through the red centre to Alice Springs and onto Tennant Creek to connect with the new Brisbane - Darwin link."