Gigabit Adelaide from 2017 creates Australia's first gigabit city with high-speed internet link also to regional cities

As a Gicity, Adelaide joins an international network of high-speed interconnected internet cities. 
Image courtesy South Australian government

Adelaide became Australia’s first gigabit city in 2017. An Australian-first partnership between the state government and Adelaide’s three universities has delivered the SABRENet (South Australian Broadband Research and Education Network) – 200 kilometres of dark fibre carrying a high-speed broadband backbone across the city to university campuses and 14 strategic business innovation precincts in a network known as GigCity. South Australian government funding for the network was extended for at least another two years in 2024.

Students, teachers and technology businesses enjoyed internet speeds of up to 10GB per second – 100 times the national average.

The $7.6 million GigCity Adelaide network at TechinSA was funded by the state government to work with the high-tech industry to bring innovative South Australian products and technologies to global markets.

Adelaide-based internet provider EscapeNet delivered internet services through the South Australian Broadband Research and Education Network (SABRENet) fibre optic network to key innovation sites and co-working spaces across metropolitan Adelaide, including Tonsley Innovation Precinct, TechInSA, the Stretton Centre and St Paul’s Creative Centre.

Business tenants in those precincts had access to gigabit-speed internet service plans, providing access to affordable and less restrictive plans than otherwise available in the marketplace.

GigCity Adelaide was part of the state government’s $80 million investment to support innovative businesses, entrepreneurs and researchers through programs and initiatives, including the $10 million South Australian Early Commercialisation Fund and the $50 million South Australian Venture Capital Fund to drive economic growth and job creation.

In 2016, Adelaide enhanced its competitive advantage by becoming the first city outside the United States to join the US Ignite Smart Gigabit Communities network of cities, which includes Adelaide’s sister city, Austin, Texas. This coup for Adelaide also transformed US Ignite into an international program.