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Tasmania wants more backbone

Island state buying feasibility study for trans-Bass-Strait cable

The government of the Australian state of Tasmania has commissioned a feasibility study into a possible new optical fibre cable across the Bass Strait.

Until this century, the island state's only connection to the Australian mainland was provided by Australia's dominant telco, Telstra, which has two fibre routes. That was supplemented by the Basslink cable, which opened in 2005.

During 2014, SubPartners announced that it would construct a cable, APX Central, to connect Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart and Sydney.

However, if this report in the Hobart Mercury is accurate, the Hobart landing is conditional on a contribution worth AU$20 million from the Tasmanian government.

Hence the need for a feasibility study: AU180,000 to consultancy Advisian who will work with Tasmanian consultant Gary Eiszele on the project.

The state government seems keen on the project, with the Mercury quoting innovation minister Michael Ferguson as calling it an “exciting opportunity that must be fully explored”.

SubPartners wants APX Central to eventually link up with its planned APX East cable from Sydney to the US.

At the moment, like APX East, the APX Central cable is in its early stages, with permits being sought and early work started on cable stations in Perth and Sydney.

The company hopes APX Central will be active during 2016. The cable has a design capacity of 32 Tbps. ®

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