Australian operator Vocus has announced plans for a 4,000-kilometre ducted fibre route, expanding its Australian Digital Infrastructure Platform (ADIP) beyond the Sydney-Melbourne corridor. This new Brisbane-Darwin route, connecting Brisbane, Townsville, and Darwin, is the second ADIP project and is scheduled for service in 2030.Vocus CEO Andrés Irlando stated that the expansion reflects the increasing infrastructure requirements associated with AI and data centre investment. He highlighted northern Australia‘s growing importance for AI, cloud, and digital services, with Queensland and the Northern Territory emerging as data centre locations and gateways to Asia and the US. The network is designed to accommodate up to 3,456 fibre pairs.The new route will extend Vocus’s existing northern Australian network, which already includes the Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable and North-West Cable System. CTO Nikos Katinakis noted that the Brisbane-Darwin corridor will provide additional capacity, route diversity, and resilience, while extending the ducted intercapital design introduced with the Sydney-Melbourne project.The Sydney-Melbourne ADIP project, announced in June, involves approximately AUD 500 million of investment and is scheduled for service in 2029. Vocus has also been involved in environmental survey work for Meta’s Project Waterworth subsea cable, which includes proposed Australian landing locations at Darwin and Townsville, though the Brisbane-Darwin project is a separate terrestrial network.Market research commissioned by Vocus indicates that Australian data centre capacity could triple by 2030, with AI workloads expected to drive most future long-haul fibre demand. The company also notes that existing fibre corridors are nearing higher utilisation due to increasing connectivity demands. Vocus has not disclosed the expected capital cost of the Brisbane-Darwin project, which is currently in its early works phase.
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