AFL Selected to Manufacture Optical Fibre Cables for HyperOne
Melbourne, Victoria and Spartanburg, SC – December 14, 2021 – HyperOne, the largest private, independent digital infrastructure project in Australia’s history, has selected AFL to manufacture optical fibre cables. The project will build the most complete national fibre backbone ever constructed, and the first built in almost two decades.
HyperOne founder and industry veteran Bevan Slattery said the business had selected AFL to manufacture fibre cable at its Tottenham factory, in line with the company’s desire to build a network with a positive impact on local industry. The project is expected to create over 10,000 Australian jobs.
“We wanted to build a network that is made by Australians, for Australians,” explained Mr. Slattery. “Having our cable manufactured by local workers here in Melbourne is a key part of that.”
The project has broad support from government, with Federal Minister for the Digital Economy, Senator Jane Hume commenting on the positive impact on jobs in the Victorian manufacturing industry. Ms. Hume explained, “We also need Australian businesses to support local suppliers whenever possible, and this is a great example of that.”
The cables will be manufactured in AFL’s facility in Tottenham, Australia. The ISO9001 and ISO14001 certified facility manufactures a variety of bulk optical fibre cables, predominantly for the Australian market. The project will continue AFL’s long-standing contribution to Australian manufacturing and the employment of Australian workers.
“This is a very important piece of new infrastructure for Australia, and we’re excited to start work on it using our quality Australian made products,” said Tony Dunstan, CEO of AFL Australia. “We are kicking off manufacturing today and this project will keep our machines running for at least the next 18 months.”
AFL’s foundational expertise in optical fibre and cable manufacture underscores their capability to deliver the world’s largest infrastructure projects. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujikura, AFL also benefits from the depth of experience that Fujikura has in optical fibre and optical fibre cable.
Group Product Manager at AFL Australia, Michael Scarano explains, “With almost 40 years of proven history manufacturing optical fibre cable and connectivity, AFL has unique capability to manufacture solutions and service large scale programs such as HyperOne. Our portfolio also includes optical testing and inspection products and as a part of Fujikura, our industry leading 90S optical fibre fusion splicer allows for the jointing of these cables with an absolute minimum of optical loss – something that is critical for modern long haul, high bandwidth networks.”
The project will provide critical infrastructure of national and international importance and is expected to require over 20,000km of optical fibre cable. It will deliver many interconnection points, including international cable landing stations and locations within regional communities.
For more information on AFL, its products and services, visit www.AFLglobal.com.
Pictured: AFL Australia CEO Tony Dunstan, Federal Minister Jane Hume and HyperOne founder Bevan Slattery
Media Enquiries
Daniel Rose
General Manager, Sales & Marketing, AFL
Daniel.Rose@AFLglobal.com
+61416652742
About AFL
Founded in 1984, AFL is an international manufacturer providing end-to-end solutions to the electric utilities, wireline and wireless network operators, cloud content providers, and enterprise markets as well as industrial markets which support oil & gas, mining, defense and more. The company’s products are in use in over 130 countries and include fiber optic cable and hardware, transmission and substation accessories, outside plant equipment, connectivity, test and inspection equipment, fusion splicers and training. AFL also offers a wide variety of services supporting data center, enterprise, wireless and outside plant applications.
Headquartered in Spartanburg, SC, AFL has operations in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd. of Japan. For more information, visit www.AFLglobal.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and read our blog.
About Fujikura Ltd.
Headquartered in Tokyo and established in 1885, Fujikura has a 136-year history of providing products and services in its core business areas, which include telecommunications, electronics and automotive markets. Today, in the field of telecommunications, Fujikura is a global technology pioneer and a leading manufacturer of optical cables, fibres, and connectivity solutions for network installation, measurement, and testing. Fujikura’s decades-long involvement in the development of fibre optics and its innovative approach to specialist technologies has allowed it to pioneer a range of products and solutions in diverse global markets.
Fujikura's mission is to create exceptional value for its customers using "Tsunagu" (meaning connecting in Japanese) technologies. Fujikura provides extraordinary services and solutions, earning its customers' trust, and contributing to society.
About HyperOne
HyperOne is Australia’s new $1.5 billion, 20,000km+ hyperscale fibre optic network. The project will be the most complete national fibre backbone ever constructed and the first built in almost two decades, connecting all major data hubs in every capital city in every state and territory, and delivering better connectivity to regional and remote areas.
HyperOne will be a significant enabler of the future growth of our nation and our digital economy, capable of delivering more traffic than every other national backbone built in Australia’s history combined – carrying over 10,000 terabits per second. HyperOne will support future industries such as aerospace, AI/machine learning, cloud, satellite, defence, resources, agriculture and renewable energy as well as provide critical backhaul transmission capacity to existing digital infrastructure and local distribution networks such as the National Broadband Network and mobile operators.
HyperOne will break down the digital divide between our cities and our remote, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations and isolated communities. Lack of access to high-speed, reliable digital infrastructure is a major barrier to the development of industry and jobs in regional and remote areas. By providing valuable off ramps to deliver critical digital infrastructure and connectivity we will open up opportunities in these underserved communities.
The project provides critical infrastructure of not only national and but also international significance. It will more than double the number of locations international undersea cables can land and interconnect in Australia, creating an unprecedented opportunity for Australia to cement its position as a secure, stable and capable interconnection point in the greater Asian region.
HyperOne is committed to delivering a carbon-neutral hyperscale network. To achieve this, we will utilise a variety of clean energy technologies. HyperOne is also committed to the project being built by Australians for Australians. We will also prioritise local suppliers, local materials and local workers to deliver the project, driving strong job creation at a critical time for our economy.
