Running time: 3min. 40sec.

Telstra, the Northern Territory Government and Rio Tinto Alcan today announced they had teamed up on a $34 million project to connect northern Arnhem Land to the nation’s fibre optic backbone.

Broadbanding the Top End will see 800km of fibre optic cable laid between Jabiru and Nhulunbuy, connecting nine indigenous communities and the township of Nhulunbuy with state of the art telecommunications.

Telstra Group Managing Director Public Policy & Communications, Mr David Quilty, said the project was vitally important for the people of northern Arnhem Land and the outcome couldn’t have been achieved without financial assistance from the Territory Government and Rio Tinto Alcan.

“It’s a huge project and one that covers some extremely difficult and fragile terrain. Telstra has been working closely with the NT Government, the Northern Land Council and other relevant authorities to ensure the impact of the fibre deployment on the surrounding area is minimised,” Mr Quilty said.

“Broadbanding the Top End will ultimately serve a population of over 10,000 people in some of the remotest parts of Australia, providing them with access to world class, high speed broadband and a range of other advanced communications solutions.

“One of the most important aspects of this project is that it will provide greater opportunities for improvements in health and education in some of Australia's most isolated communities. For the first time, services like video-conferencing can be made available, so medical specialists in other parts of Australia, or other parts of the world can be consulted.

“In education broadband will provide an opportunity to improve access to information and broaden options to deliver teaching, through virtual classrooms,” Mr Quilty said.

Group Managing Director Telstra Networks & Services, Mr Michael Rocca, said the Broadbanding the Top End project meant more than just providing reliable phones and faster broadband – it meant bringing life changing technology to this remote corner of Australia.

“Like the Wadeye optical fibre project Telstra completed in October 2007 with assistance from LGANT and the Federal Government, this project is expected to deliver significant benefits on top of providing access to high quality voice and broadband service.

“It further demonstrates Telstra’s ability to build the complex world-class telecommunications infrastructure required to advance communities around Australia,” Mr Rocca said.