Vocus taps UGL to develop Sydney-Melbourne fiber route

Vocus has appointed UGL as development partner for its Sydney-Melbourne ducted fiber route, Australia's first ducted intercapital fiber network, costing approximately 500 million Australian dollars (US$358.19 million). The project is part of Vocus' Australian Digital Infrastructure Platform (ADIP) initiative to address fiber capacity gaps driven by AI demand. UGL will deliver early works including surveys, design, and engineering, with construction underway and operations expected by 2029.

Fiber specialist Vocus has appointed UGL as the development partner for its Sydney-Melbourne route, Australia's first ducted intercapital fiber network, which will be constructed at a cost of approximately 500 million Australian dollars US$358.19 million . The Sydney-Melbourne fiber network is the first project to fall under the Australian Digital Infrastructure Platform ADIP , Vocus' multi-year initiative that addresses the country's growing fiber capacity gap amid the AI boom. The ADIP aims to expand Australia's subsea, intercapital and metro fiber infrastructure in order to support future economic growth and digital transformation. UGL will deliver an early works program for development of the proposed route between Sydney and Melbourne. This initial program includes activities such as surveys, designs, engineering, field validation, stakeholder engagement, project management and cost modeling, which are required to prepare the project for construction. Related: Vocus invests $344M in Sydney-Melbourne ducted fiber cable /cable-technology/vocus-invests-344m-in-sydney-melbourne-ducted-fiber-cable "We have selected UGL because of its long track record of successful delivery of Australian digital infrastructure," Nikos Katinakis, Vocus chief technology officer, said in a statement https://www.vocus.com.au/news/vocus-selects-ugl-as-development-partner-for-inital-phase-of-adip on Monday. "Selecting them as our development partner is the start of detailed route design and readiness activities on this route. Together, we will plan a network with the capacity, resilience and future flexibility required to meet global standards and support Australia's long-term digital infrastructure needs." Vocus' new Sydney-Melbourne route can accommodate up to 6,912 fiber cores, or approximately 3,456 fiber pairs. Construction on the route is underway, and it is expected to be operational by 2029. Future-proof investment Vocus' new Sydney-Melbourne route will be the first intercapital route in Australia to use ducted infrastructure. This technology is standard among leading AI and cloud providers in North America and Europe but has not previously been used on a long-haul Australian route. In Australia, traditional long-haul fiber lines are buried directly in the ground. The ducted approach involves placing fragile glass fibers inside protective pipes. This allows Vocus to increase capacity by blowing additional fiber pairs through the ducts, eliminating the need to dig up the ground again or disrupt active customer lines. "A ducted long-haul network gives us the flexibility to add capacity over time without breaking ground again or interfering with customers' active networks, while providing greater resilience and protection against cable cuts," said Katinakis. Currently, the Sydney-Melbourne corridor carries about 40% of the country's long-haul data traffic, but it will soon be undersupplied without new investments. By 2030, Vocus estimates a tripling of data center capacity in Australia, with 85% to 95% of long-haul fiber demand and 70% to 80% of metro demand driven by AI workloads.