​Superloop expands high-speed network through NextDC's Canberra datacentre

Superloop has expanded its high-speed intercapital colocation network with a new point of presence (PoP) at NextDC's C1 datacentre in Canberra.

The addition of C1 connectivity sees the Asia-Pacific fibre infrastructure company complete its national footprint through NextDC, with connections already at the latter's datacentres in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.

According to Superloop, the nationwide deployment of capital city infrastructure gives the company the ability to immediately service customers and channel partners across all Australian markets.

"I've worked with NextDC since its first facility, B1, opened in Brisbane," said Superloop CTO Ryan Crouch. "This partnership between Superloop and NextDC has resulted in continual growth in colocation and network services for customers, and has seen our businesses grow in tandem."

Superloop completed its AU$65 million acquisition of metropolitan fixed wireless network company BigAir in November, revealing plans a few months prior to combine its fibre assets with the latter's wireless network and capabilities in order to provide a high-speed wholesale alternative to the National Broadband Network (NBN) across outer metro and regional areas in Australia.

In addition to bringing with it a full suite of connectivity, cloud, and managed services solutions, BigAir adds more than 2,200 customers, over 300 points of presence throughout Australia, additional datacentre locations, and additional installed fibre.

BigAir also owns and operates one of Australia's largest fixed wireless networks, which provides high speed broadband and data services to both the wholesale and enterprise markets.

In announcing its AU$19.3 million after tax profit for the first half of FY2017, NextDC told shareholders the 2017 financial year is slated to be the biggest in the company's history, pointing to planned capital investments totalling more than AU$250 million.

In September, NextDC raised AU$150 million for the construction of a new datacentre in New South Wales.

At the time, the company said it had signed a new deal with an existing customer that required 1.5 megawatts (MW) of capacity, and with its existing S1 Sydney facility sitting at 82 percent utilisation back in September, NextDC needed more space to cater for the customer's needs.

The Sydney S2 datacentre is expected to cost approximately AU$150 million, and an expected target of approximately 30MW capacity is slated to be ready by the first half of the 2018 financial year.

On Friday, NextDC told shareholders that S1 was also undergoing an upgrade from 14MW to 15MW, with additional data hall space being fitted out at S1 and Melbourne's M1 to support customer requirements.

NextDC secured space in Queensland's Fortitude Valley in May last year to build its AU$75 million B2 Brisbane datacentre, scheduled for completion in late 2017.

The AU$75 million includes the purchase of land, base building, and associated infrastructure to support an initial 1.5MW of IT load. At the time, NextDC said it had every intention for B2's total capacity to reach 6MW, building on a site close to a major electricity substation.

A day later, NextDC confirmed Tullamarine as the location for its AU$85 million Melbourne M2 datacentre, after executing a contract to acquire the space near one of Australia's busiest airports.

Similarly to B2, the AU$85 million investment includes the land, base building, and associated infrastructure to support the facility's initial 2MW of IT load, with the company expecting this to scale up to a target capacity of 25MW at full fit-out.

The company set out to raise AU$120 million in November to fund the construction of B2 and M2.

Earlier this week, Superloop announced its results for the first half of the 2017 financial year, reporting a net loss after tax of AU$2 million.

During the six months to December 2016, Superloop installed over 160 kilometres of fibre, which brought total installed fibre to 540 kilometres. The company also completed installation and testing of the first 110 kilometre backbone fibre cable network for launch of the initial Hong Kong network in December 2016 and connected 16 new enterprise buildings in Singapore, with 30 on-net as of December 31, 2016.

18 new datacentres were also connected across the region, with 70 on-net at the end of the reporting period.

Earlier this month, Superloop announced it had completed the marine installation of its Hong Kong subsea cable TKO Express, which stretches between Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island and Tseung Kwan O (TKO) Industrial Estate -- the city state's new major hub for technology.