Ten Gigabit Adelaide brings world's fastest average internet speed in Australia-first fibre- optic link from 2017

Ten Gigabit Adelaide fibre-optic cable was connected to about 3,500 businesses within 1,000 Adelaide city buildings at no cost to those businesses.

Adelaide City Council appointed TPG in 2017 to roll out Ten Gigabit Adelaide, an Australia-first fibre optic-to-business city centre network with no installation costs for businesses.

The $10 million-plus Ten Gigabit Adelaide initiative supplied Adelaide and North Adelaide businesses with internet speeds of between one and 10 gigabits per second.

Local data company Pernix said Adelaide CBD with the network would leap from having an average internet service among the world’s slowest and most expensive to the fastest and cheapest by far.

Pernix’s analysis of the Ten Gigabit Adelaide fibre-optic cable network’s speed was based on multiple data sources and assuming at least 500 businesses would take up the service. It favourably compared Adelaide to South Korean capital Seoul, considered the global leader for internet speed. The analysis, commissioned by the council, was based on data from web performance analyser Ookla/Speedtest, cloud service provider Akamai and global management and consulting firm AT Kearney.

Internet service provider TPG used the city’s network of ducts to install Ten Gigabit Adelaide fibre-optic cable in the premises of about 3,500 businesses within 1000 city and North Adelaide buildings at no cost to those businesses. The network wasn't offered to residents.

Ten Gigabit Adelaide offered extraordinarily high speeds because businesses could have access to their own individual fibre cable. It offersed  ultra-fast internet services but also super-speed data transfer services with synchronous upload and download.  This made it attractive for the medical, advanced manufacturing, defence and film industries, and helped local businesses expand offerings to international service export markets.

Datacom, one of Australasia's largest professional IT services companies, in 2018 announced it would move its Adelaide office, with 100 staff, to premises on Franklin Street to take advantage of Ten Gigabit Adelaide.

The council had commitments to install the fibre-optic cable in 700 city buildings, with 400 city businesses registering interest in the service. Businesses that missed out on the initial installation rollout could be liable for large costs –around $30,000 – to have the fibre installed later.

Adelaide had competitive advantages over many cities in rolling out fibre-optic cable networks because of the CBD’s grid pattern and flat topography.

The service was complementary to the National Broadband Network, installing a fibre-to-the-kerb network for residents (and some businesses) in Adelaide’s CBD, and GigCity Adelaide, linking innovation precincts and co-working spaces in Adelaide city, the greater metropolitan area, and regional South Australia, from 2017.