Telstra today unveiled the beginning of its aggressive international connectivity strategy with the announcement of a new wholly-owned submarine cable connecting Australia to the USA.

Telstra Chief Operations Officer, Mr Greg Winn, said the 9000 kilometre Sydney-Hawaii submarine cable - the largest ever built and owned by an Australian company - will allow increased data, voice and video transmission capability to the USA while significantly reducing Australia's reliance on foreign-owned companies in order to compete globally. It also adds to Telstra's existing portfolio of international capacity giving Telstra customers the best access to the world.

"Telstra has an aggressive international connectivity strategy, and this is just the first step in bringing that strategy to life for the benefit of Australians. Internet usage has been increasing rapidly and this will continue; therefore it is important that Telstra caters for this demand now and into the future," Mr Winn said.

"With the Next G™ network, Telstra built the largest and fastest national wireless broadband network in the world, and we are now investing in delivering better fixed-line broadband and mobile services to our customers. This investment is also important to Telstra's major corporate customers."

The submarine cable will provide transmission capacity of 1.28 Terabit/s to Hawaii where it will interconnect with other cables providing direct access to mainland USA. Telstra already owns capacity in these important links to mainland USA.

Currently Telstra, on behalf of its Australian customers, purchases international transmission capacity to the USA from suppliers that are wholly or partially-owned by foreign competitors.

"Around 65 per cent of all internet content today is coming from the USA, so this cable is really another example of Telstra keeping Australia at the forefront and connected to the rest of the world," Mr Winn said.

"Owning the infrastructure that provides this vital connection to Australia enables Telstra to deliver additional network capacity and reliability to our retail and wholesale customers, and will maximise returns for shareholders when we re-route traffic from existing routes owned by competitors."

Customers who use data-rich services such as telecommuting, video-conferencing and mobile video applications, will enjoy a more seamless and reliable service through the increased network capacity. Also internet users will benefit from greater security and speed when accessing USA-based information online via high-speed data networks such as Telstra's Next G™ network or BigPond.

In addition, Telstra will be able to further expand its end-to-end service offering that ranges from IP, mobile and intelligent network services to voice and data hubs, call centres and advanced multimedia as well as e-commerce applications.

"Telstra gave Australia wireless broadband with the Next G™ network, and now we are ensuring Australia's ongoing connection to the online future, so there can be no doubt about Telstra's willingness to invest in infrastructure where a commercial return on investment is available," Mr Winn said.

"This cable provides a vital link to the world-wide web, but for Australia to be able to compete globally, regulatory reform is urgently needed to facilitate the rollout of a high-speed FTTN broadband network."

Alcatel-Lucent will build and lay the cable, and the project is expected to be finished by mid 2008.

At 9000 kilometres, the cable will be long enough to circle Australia 1.5 times and in addition to the customer benefits, will also support Telstra's IP network transformation.

Jean Godeluck, President of Alcatel-Lucent's submarine network activity, said this new project strengthens the long-lasting and successful cooperation between Alcatel-Lucent and Telstra.

"Our partnership with Telstra for undersea projects dates back to the early '90s and includes the successful installation of submarine systems for Telstra such as the Bass Strait and Tasman projects," Mr Godeluck said.