Equant, Ergon in AU$20 million deal with BMA

Under the deal, Ergon's wholesale telecommunications arm, Nexium Telecommunications, will use its access to high-speed networks owned by Ergon, Powerlink, Southern Cross Telecommunications, Uecomm and Queensland Rail in conjunction with Queensland Communications and Networking to provide wholesale telecommunications services to Equant.

BMA currently maintains 14 remote Bowen Basin sites, as well as other key office locations across the state. The Bowen Basin is a coal-rich area extending over approximately 60,000 square kilometres of Central Queensland. Equant will integrate BMA's network into BHP Billiton's global virtual private network, for which it is also the global provider.

Ergon chief executive officer Tony Bellas said: "Regional Queensland now has access to world-class, competitively priced high-speed telecommunications services that are taken for granted in the south east of the state." Richard Knott, managing director of Equant Australasia, echoed Bellas's comments, saying that the deal represents a huge step forward for BMA and Queensland's communications services in general.