Internode signs up as Basslink first ISP customer

Peter Dinham
Monday, 30 March 2009 14:49

Business IT - Technology

Broadband provider Internode has signed an agreement to use the new Basslink fibre-optic cable to significantly increase its data backhaul capacity between Tasmania and the mainland.

Internode’s carrier relations manager, John Lindsay, said today the Basslink deal increases Internode’s data capacity across Bass Strait by more than 150 per cent and would also provide greater certainty of uninterrupted services for Tasmania by creating a redundant data path.
 
Lindsay said Internode expected to start using Basslink service before the middle of this year, with use of the service making Internode even more attractive to Tasmanian customers who could continue to enjoy the same level of broadband performance and range of services that its customers get in the rest of the country.

“The extra capacity allows Internode to accelerate its growth in Tasmania and it positions us well for strong and profitable growth,” he said.

“As well as virtually halving our cost of backhauling data across Bass Strait, the Basslink service will allow us to exploit economies of scale as we grow.”

The three-year contract with Basslink, which is owned by Singapore-based CitySpring Infrastructure Trust, is for an initial data capacity of 622 megabits per second, and Internode expects this to increase to more than one gigabit within the first year.

The Basslink interconnector runs from Loy Yang in Gippsland, Victoria, across Bass Strait to Bell Bay in northern Tasmania, with the 360km interconnector incorporating the longest submarine power cable in the world.