Vocus to invest $500 million in new fibre builds

Vocus has revealed plans to invest $500 million in thousands of kilometres of new fibre capacity routes comprising a new digital infrastructure platform for AI workloads, with the first stretch linking Sydney and Melbourne to be operational by 2029.

The carrier said that the network project, which it called the Australian Digital Infrastructure Platform (ADIP), would involve “thousands” of new fibre pairs and “hundreds of terabits of capacity” to be built out to locations suitable for AI data processing sites.

A spokesperson for Vocus declined to provide details about the geography and timeframes for completing the wider ADIP project, but specifically the carrier said it would target areas with land, water and power suitable for AI data centres.

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

“Australia, like many countries in the world, currently lacks sufficient terrestrial and subsea networks to enable existing and future AI workloads," Orlando said.

"Vocus – through ADIP – will address skyrocketing customer demand for high-capacity, sovereign fibre networks built to global standards."

The carrier said that the new Sydney-Melbourne link will be the first ever ducted fibre build connecting the capitals in Australia.

The carrier will effectively build a pipe between the two cities through which it will be able to haul additional cables to meet potential increases in demand.

Vocus chief technology officer Nikos Katinakis said that the approach would give the company the ability to offer a more robust service that it could upgrade without having to engage in additional civil works.

"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,” Katinkas said.

The platform’s first duct linking Sydney and Melbourne will be capable of accommodating up to 3546 fibre pairs.

Vocus earlier this month switched on its Horizon cable, a 2000 kilometre fibre link running from Perth to Port Hedland via the Pilbara geared toward serving the region’s mining and agriculture sectors, and townships.

The 38Tbps Horizon network runs over three diverse paths and has been designed to operate in the region’s harsh environment to minimise the need for maintenance.

Vocus’ spokesperson declined to reveal whether the carrier had pre-sold any capacity on the new ADIP Sydney-Melbourne route.