• Vocus’ 200Gbps fibre backbone connects NEXTDC’s D1 data centre
• Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable (DJSC) set to connect Darwin and Asia
• Project Horizon to connect Darwin to Perth via Port Hedland and the Pilbara

Vocus, Australia’s specialist fibre and network solutions provider, today announced that it will connect Darwin’s first data centre, NEXTDC’s D1, on its high-capacity ‘Terabit Territory’ fibre infrastructure.

As part of the Terabit Territory partnership with the NT Government, Vocus is focussed on digital equity across Australia – providing NEXTDC’s D1 with backhaul rates at the same price structure offered on the most popular intercapital routes along Australia’s east coast.

“Combining DJSC with our national terrestrial network footprint, Darwin now rivals Australia’s major capitals when it comes to fibre capacity, redundancy, and pricing – and beats them for low latency paths to Asia. No other telco comes close to the level of investment Vocus is making in our fibre infrastructure in Australia’s North” said Vocus CEO Kevin Russell.

“Vocus’ Terabit Territory fibre solution delivers the high-capacity, low-latency connectivity required to operate a tier-1 data centre in Darwin, and our in-progress Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable (DJSC) system will provide NEXTDC’s D1 facility with a direct path to Asia and onto all Australian mainland capital cities,”, said Mr Russell.

"The Digital Territory strategy provides the foundation for Northern Australia to become an emerging digital gateway for innovation and investment" said NEXTDC CEO, Craig Scroggie.

“Our partnership with Vocus will provide best of breed network and digital infrastructure platforms to facilitate exceptional digital accessibility, reliability and connectivity capability for the top end of Australia extending out into Southeast Asia’s emerging economies.”

“This investment will help us diversify and strengthen the Territory economy,” said NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner. “Not only will it create jobs for Territory tradies during construction, but the innovation centre will spur the growth of tech businesses here in the Territory and create digital careers for locals.

“NEXTDC’s investment cements Darwin as Northern Australia’s most advanced digital economy, and this will open the door to new opportunities for future investment in cloud-based computing services and advanced manufacturing. We are Australia’s comeback capital, but we also want to be Australia’s destination for all things digital.”

Vocus completed the Terabit Territory network upgrade in August 2021, bolstering the capacity of its fibre infrastructure into Darwin from 10Gbps (Gigabits per second) technology to cutting-edge 200Gbps technology. Terabit Territory, delivered in partnership with the NT Government, provided a 25-times increase in capacity into Darwin – and is scalable to deliver up to 480Tbps (Terabits per second) of total capacity in future.

The Territory Government invested $7.9 million into Terabit Territory as part of the Local Jobs Fund, with Vocus contributing an additional $10 million to the project.