Vocus gets to work on route for Sydney-Melbourne fibre

Vocus is set to start detailed route planning for its new $500 million Sydney-Melbourne ducted fibre link with the appointment of a development partner for the project.

The telco has appointed UGL to conduct surveying, designing, engineering, field validation, stakeholder engagement, project management and cost modelling activities.

Vocus chief technology officer Nikos Katinakis said it was an important step in the project which the company is marketing under the name the Australian Digital Infrastructure Platform (ADIP).

“Selecting [UGL] as our development partner is the start of detailed route design and readiness activities on this route," he said.

“Together, we will plan a network with the capacity, resilience and future flexibility required to meet global standards and support Australia’s long-term digital infrastructure needs."

Scheduled to be operational by 2029, the link can accommodate up to 3456 fibre pairs.

Its ducted design will allow Vocus to add capacity to it without engaging in additional civil works.

Katinkas highlighted the design approach when announcing ADIP in June.

"Ducted long-haul fibre networks are more demanding and costly to build but will allow us to add capacity in the future without breaking ground again or interfering with customers' active networks.

"The approach also offers greater resilience and protection against cable cuts to improve customers’ uptime and service levels,” he said.

At the time, Vocus chief executive Andres Irlando said that, despite a flurry of recently announced fibre infrastructure builds, Australia is currently underserved for cable capacity to meet current and future demand for AI.

The carrier has previously told iTnews that project ADIP will target areas with land, water and power suitable for AI data centres.