Due in part to increased connectivity demand into the Asia-Pacific region, Telstra is beefing up its network infrastructure in the U.S. by adding two points-of-presence (PoPs) and increasing bandwidth on its trans-Pacific subsea cables.
Australia-based Telstra also plans to upgrade many of its in-country circuits in the U.S. in order to improve network resiliency and route diversity. Over the next six months, Telstra plans to increase its U.S. bandwidth by more than 1.5 terabits.
Telstra, BT and Colt Technology Services, among others, have come to the U.S. to better serve their multi-national customers and to expand their reach across the globe.
Telstra said the addition of 1.5 terabits of capacity on multiple subsea cables from the U.S. West Coast to Asia-Pacific was a direct result of increased demand from Telstra’s U.S.-based customers and partners needing to carry data, content, and IP to and from Asia.
“We’ve experienced incredible demand for connectivity into Asia-Pacific over the last year, as more U.S. businesses look for growth in Asia, one of the world’s largest growth markets,” said Nick Collins, president of Telstra, Americas, in a statement. “To meet this need, ensure we deliver the best experience to our customers, and remain one of the most-trusted partners to deliver content, data and IP to and from the U.S. and Asia, we are committed to continually investing in our U.S. network infrastructure, at a time when connectivity and collaboration between the two high-growth regions continues to be important.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, Telstra has seen a 35% increase in overall network traffic on its international network. At the same time, it's also seeing a shift from 10G to 100G services on its trans-Pacific subsea cables.
RELATED: Telstra adds 2,500 temporary jobs to its workforce to help with COVID-19
“While the COVID-19 pandemic certainly accelerated demand for bandwidth among technology and media companies, we’ve anticipated this growth for some time,” Collins said. “That’s specifically why at the beginning of our fiscal year in July 2019 we introduced a new business technology and media business segment in the U.S. with the goal of capitalizing on the growth potential in those industries.”
Telstra said the increased network demand was being driven by content providers, content delivery networks, and growing requirements from a range of businesses to support video, gaming, productivity, and enterprise apps as millions of people worldwide have shifted to using digital interactions for work and play.
The increased demand for connectivity has mostly been in areas of the U.S. with large concentrations of technology, media, content delivery and enterprise businesses, including the Pacific Northwest and Southern California.
The two new PoPs in Hillsboro, Oregon and Los Angeles will support increasing bandwidth requirements from organizations in the surrounding areas. Those new locations bring Telstra’s total number of PoPs in the U.S. to 21.
Telstra recently launched PoPs in Atlanta, Seattle, Denver and Dallas and a new sales office in Chicago. To ensure U.S. network resiliency and diversity between all of Telstra’s PoPs in the U.S., the company has also upgraded its backbone to include multiple new 100-G transit services.