Council set to takes its line south

HIGH-SPEED internet is set to come to the southern Gold Coast sooner than expected as the council prepares to roll out its NBN rival.

Fast, free public Wi-Fi will be installed in Coolangatta after proving successful in Southport, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach during the Commonwealth Games.

It will be created off the back of a fibre optic cable running from Broadbeach to Coolangatta, which council is leasing until it can build its own in conjunction with the southern light rail.

Mayor Tom Tate said the system had proven itself during the Games.

“During the Comm Games the world’s media enjoyed exceptional download speeds using our optic fibre and the end result was free-to-air global media exposure for our city that exceeded $100 million,” he said.

“Our data highway is charging ahead, with work now under way to install free superfast public Wi-Fi in Coolangatta, via our fibre optic cabling that follows the existing light rail route.

“There is really no endgame when it comes to the capacity of this high-speed fibre optics network … The next phase is more exciting than anything that has come before.”

Cr Tate said within a few years ratepayers would enjoy a cashflow return from the city’s investment, as the bandwidth from the fibre optic network would be made available to telcos.

To do this, the council has obtained a carrier licence, which allows it to sell off bandwidth to other carriers.

The council announced the rollout of the fibre optic system in late 2016, at a cost of $3.6 million.

The network, in its initial conception, ran from the Health and Knowledge Precinct at Parkwood to Broadbeach through cabling laid under the light rail tracks.

It has since been expanded to run to Helensvale, and now Coolangatta.

Cr Tate said the high-speed fibre optic cable would be extended along the coastal strip following the light rail’s stage 3A and 3B route, bringing the system to nearby businesses.

“This will mean our IT industry will have the opportunity through this to tap into a world-class data highway,” he said.

“This not only means we will be able to diversify our economy further, especially in the tech industry, but it will also help boost our film industry.

“It will allow editing to occur 24 hours a day with the work shared both here and in the US.”