Endeavour Energy’s Ausconnex business unit has unveiled a dark fibre network serving Greater Western Sydney, and expects to connect its first customers in the coming months.
It joins a long list of electricity distributors offering telecommunications services, since they all need fibre for their own network operations.
Ausconnex is targeting telecommunications providers and data centre operators, both users of private networks.
“With fibre optic cable already in place, each new customer connection simply involves the installation of a fibre tail at each end to connect to the existing network,” Ausconnex general manager Peter Hanley explained.
This would, for example, let a telco using Endeavour Energy poles for mobile base stations interconnect them without having to bring its own fibre.
Data centres within the Endeavour Energy footprint will already arrange electrical connections, and will be able to pull dark fibre to the Ausconnex network at the same time.
Hanley said the service targets 99.995% availability, a reasonable service level given that the equipment needed to put data onto the fibre will be owned by the customer.
He added that the network offers “multiple physically discrete backup connection paths”.
There's 1000km of fibre in the Western Sydney launch geography, and Hanley said Ausconnex also has access to 430,000 poles and structures.
The electricity network also covers the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands, the Illawarra, and the South Coast.
Hanley added that Ausconnex will also offer electrical services, equipment supply, asset management, and 24x7 support to its telco customers.
The company told iTnews the dark fibre footprint includes the suburbs of Bringelly, Carlingford, Camellia, Casula, Campbelltown, Cawdor, Cattai, Glenorie, Granville, Emu Plains, Kurrajong, Liverpool, Menangle, West Pennant Hills, and Richmond as well as selected parts of the Wollongong CBD.
