​Vocus installs 'world's largest' fibre optic cable

Vocus Communications is installing a new fibre optic cable with a 1,728 fibre count -- 12 times the fibre count of typical network cables with a similar diameter.

The initial cable, which Vocus is calling the "world's largest", will be laid in South Sydney, with the company hinting that opportunities for a further rollout will be explored.

Vocus said it has been trialling the cable in smaller formats for the last three years. Initially, the cable was designed as part of a bespoke solution that Vocus came up with to help a customer, which it took nine months to plan and deploy.

Alex West, Vocus chief operating officer, said the installation of the cable will mean the company will be able to serve more customers for a longer period, as well as have shorter delivery times to customers for new fibre services.

"The benefit of this cable is not just the initial installation, but it reduces the cost per fibre pair, as the civil works to install this cable is primarily the same as smaller core cables. Using this technology future proofs the network, as the small-diameter cable gives us the ability to upgrade our network along a path to around four times 1,728 or 8,600 fibres down a street," he said.

But Vocus is not only focused on this particular fibre optic cable. Earlier this year, the company said it was going to fork out an additional AU$58.5 million to increase the capacity of the Southern Cross Cable, the undersea cable connecting Australia and New Zealand with the United States.

Vocus boosted its half-year revenue by 41.6 percent to AU$62.7 million. It was underpinned by the increase in demand for its data services and product suite, and its acquisition strategy.