TransACT Rolls Out Capital Broadband Network

Over 95,000 households and businesses in Canberra are expected to benefit
from communications-based applications and services through the rollout of
a new broadband network over the next two years.

TransACT Communications, a
company founded and owned by the Australian Capital Territory’s
electricity, water and waste-water service provider ACTEW and the Telecom
Venture Group, will use a switched digital broadband system to provide
telephone, video, integrated Smart Card technology and high-speed data
services from a permanent Internet connection.

The network will use the existing ACTEW power pole network to run the
fibre-optic cables from pole-to-pole, improving TransACT’s time-to-market
whilst minimising the environmental impact of the rollout.

Copper cable will be used for the final connection to a residence, and
by limiting this to no more than 300 metres TransACT expects the network to
deliver a 36 Mbps asymmetric bandwidth to each customer, using high-speed
digital line ‘VDSL’ technology.

“We are modelling Canberra as the city of the future, a smart city,”
said ACTEW’s chief executive John Mackay. “Canberra boasts the highest
number of Internet connections per capita in Australia, and we are going to
make it up to 200 times faster.”