Jun 3 2010
Australia-based Telstra Country Wide announced that it has planned to enter into a partnership with BHP to stretch its fiber-optic network in Arnhem Land.
The company’s managing director Brett Riley said that they had lately finished piping of 800 km of fiber-optic line in Arnhem Land to cover Gove. This enabled the remote communities experience high-quality data speeds. The fiber-optic line to Gove project was funded together with Rio Tinto and Territory Government, Riley stated.
The company is now interested to expand its network to Groote Eylandt, which has BHP’s Gemco mine as the core business. Riley noted that the company would focus on the expansion to regional and remote areas after its tenth anniversary celebration. He added that providing fiber-optic broadband network to each home and Territory is not possible, so the company would also stretch its wireless 3G network. However, homes located in the major centers would be given more access to fiber-optic line.
The investment from the company for the new plan includes building of 100 base stations every year. Further, the company has also planned to introduce 4G network, which will enable wireless download in faster speed than fiber-optic broadband. As the data traffic on the company’s 3G network is doubling once in every 19 months, the company is now handling more internet-based data when compared to its traffic on phone line.