Tasmanian backhaul competition has finally arrived with Aurora’s fibre network now lit. Speaking exclusively with CommsDay, telecommunications group manager Michael Larkin said Aurora had now formally accepted services from Basslink, opening up an alternative network to Telstra’s – and marking the state’s first steps towards a 100Mbps national broadband network rollout.

“Aurora is in a position to provide the first competitive interstate services between Melbourne and Tasmania on a wholesale basis to customers seeking access to Telstra exchanges,” Larkin told CommsDay. The Aurora telecoms manager said the company officially accepted services across the Basslink cable late last night, meaning Aurora today is operational from its Tasmanian fibre network across the Bass Strait into the Victorian capital.

“Tasmania’s been dealing with a significant broadband disadvantage both in fixed line and in mobile voice and data services,” Larkin said. “Aurora’s working hard to break that stranglehold at the consumer level, working with our wholesale customers. We hope shortly to have, and we will have through our wholesale customers, the first competitive ADSL services operating between Melbourne and Hobart outside of Telstra’s network. We will soon have arrangements in place that will see competitive mobile voice and data services operating more broadly in Tasmania using the Aurora network and Aurora’s Basslink service. Combined, we see that Aurora is delivering mainland-comparable price, speed and services generally to the Tasmania consumer.”

Aurora’s announcement marks an end to years of legal and political wrangling over the state of the Basslink fibre cable which had laid dormant at the bottom of the Bass Strait. In the last 12 months an agreement on the cable’s ownership status was finally forged, allowing Aurora to move quickly to lock-in wholesale customers. The company performed final tests across Basslink over the past week, and Aurora’s all-clear opens the door for carriers such as Internode and Netspace to also test network connectivity.

Until today, a Telstra cable has been the sole fibre link between Tasmania and the mainland – with rivals complaining that the cost of carriage across the Strait made retail competition uneconomical. Those days are now over, Larkin said: “Our vision has been to deliver mainland parity in the last mile – and we’re delivering that now.”

Netspace began offering ADSL2+ service in Tasmania from late May in anticipation of the cable’s light-up. CommsDay understands Netspace has installed DSLAMs in 11 exchanges, with Larkin anticipating the number to increase. Meanwhile Internode sources inform CommsDay the company will use Basslink services across the ‘wet section’ between Melbourne and Tasmania, while forging an alliance with Aurora to use its on-island fibre network. Numerous other ISPs have also signed on, with more still currently in negotiations.

In a double-shot of broadband stimulus for the state, Tasmania is also expected to announce formal details for its fibre-to-the-premises rollout this month. While Larkin’s lips are sealed on negotiations between Aurora and the state and federal governments, he did say Aurora was prepared for a boom in new services. “We’ve always constructed our network for greater things – we’ve always designed and dimensioned it to deliver services way past that which we contemplate now. That’s always been our vision.”

Luke Coleman