Ranging from large tier 1 contractors to smaller operators and specialised service providers, the businesses have expressed interest in partnering on construction and delivery of the new fibre backbone.
“We have been pleased with the volume and quality of responses we have received,” said HyperOne founder Bevan Slattery.
“It is clear that the industry is excited about partnering on the delivery of this nation-building project.”
The ambitious project will replace Australia’s outdated backbone, which posed issues for Slattery's SUB.CO during the construction of the Indigo cable project.
Speaking to Capacity back in March, Slattery said: “There was little or no competitive protected fibre available for sale across Australia.
“Carriers often only had single paths; fibre capacity, while seeming abundant, practically was scarce. For example, carriers might have 12 pairs intercity fibre installed back in 2000, but they can only use three due to defective fibres, or spare long-haul fibre was sacrificed to service local networks along the route. Some routes only have three pairs available.”
That issue will now be addressed via the AU$1.5 billion HyperOne, which will connect every capital city in Australia via more than 20,000km of fibre. The network includes more than 2,000 on and off ramps along the route to support connections to regional communities and will be capable of carrying more than 10,000 terabits per second. The figure exceeds that of every other national backbone built in Australia’s history combined
Formal EoIs were invited in August with HyperOne looking for "experienced and innovative Australian companies" that could undertake various elements of the project and the full end-to-end scope of the design, construction and maintenance of the fibre network.
"This is the hyperscale backbone to interconnect major digital infrastructure across the nation," Slattery said.
Following the EOI program, the project team will also be releasing various RFQs to the market and parties who have registered interest to partner with HyperOne on the delivery of the project.
Preferred partners are due to be named by late October, with construction to commence by the end of 2021.
