Basslink to go live by 30 June

The long-awaited Basslink fibre cable, which will end Telstra's monopoly over the Bass Strait between Tasmania and the mainland, will start carrying customer traffic by 30 June, the cable's operator said today.

Michael Coates, Basslink Telecoms
(Credit: Basslink)

"We are completing our fibre build activities in Victoria this week and end-to-end testing will be completed the following week with customer service activations to follow," Michael Coates, general manager of Basslink Telecoms told ZDNet.com.au today.

The Basslink fibre cable has failed to meet several deadlines so far, but Coates was confident that despite extra work on the Victorian side required, it would be met this time.

Two customers that will benefit include utility Aurora Energy and ISP Internode, which in March agreed to buy services from Basslink. At the time, an Internode executive estimated it would be able to halve the cost of backhauling data across the Bass Strait.

Coates has maintained for some time that the challenge had not been the undersea cable, but the metropolitan trunks it needed to link the two major customer centres, Melbourne and Hobart. This has meant establishing deals with several third-party providers, including utilities in both states.

"We needed to bring together suppliers of backhaul and infrastructure in Victoria and also in Tasmania, from the north down into Hobart," said Coates. "Our historical issues have been based in Victoria."