Telstra (ASX: TLS.AX) on Thursday completed the migration of its copper network in its South Brisbane Exchange area to fiber after beginning the project 18 months ago.
With much of the work done, Telstra said it will be able to hand over the exchange site to the Queensland government in June, adding that it will decommission the exchange and related infrastructure over the next five months.
During the course of the project, Telstra installed over 284 km of fiber cable and 26.4 km of new conduit in addition to replacing or upgrading 1661 pits.
Designed to initially serve the new Queensland Children's Hospital, the fiber-based network is the foundation of the company's "Fibre Access Broadband" (FAB) Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) service. FAB will provide wholesale access to competitors such as iiNet on its fiber network in South Brisbane in addition to new Greenfield real estate developments.
The service provider said in a customer newsletter in 2011 that FAB "will support the migration of services currently delivered over copper in the South Brisbane exchange area to FTTP."
Telstra said in a blog post that "the construction of the new network is the largest scale Optical Distribution Network Telstra has designed and built, providing fibre access to over 13,000 homes and businesses in South Brisbane."
However compelling the build has been for Telstra, it has not been without its share of controversy.
At the time that Telstra announced the fiber build last January, iiNet said it signed an agreement to use Telstra's fiber network only because the incumbent did not offer them a similar service.
For more:
- see this blog post
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