Digital Infrastructure

The Northern Territory is positioned to become northern Australia's most advanced digital economy and Australia’s digital gateway to Asia and beyond.

The Territory's capital city, Darwin, is located within 50 milliseconds to more than 500 million people and offers a secure and stable location for digital, data, technology and telecommunication companies to start-up, relocate or expand their operations to service the local, Australian and lndo-Pacific markets.

International connectivity with high-speed networks

New subsea cables from Darwin will provide high speed network capacity to key locations including Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and United States. These connections will enable the best latency to Singapore from any other capital city, offering speeds 2.4 times faster than from Sydney and 1.2 times faster than from Perth.

New international digital connections linking Darwin to the commercial and population centres of South-East Asia and North America include:

Vocus Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable (DJSC) the first direct fibre link between Darwin and Singapore. Completed in 2023.

Inligo Network Asia Connect Cable-1 (ACC-1) linking Indonesia, Timor-Leste, the Philippines, Guam, Japan and the United States. Expected to be operational by 2027.

Hawaiki Nui 1 will connect Australia, Indonesia and Singapore. It links to with the existing Hawaiki cable, providing connections to New Zealand, the south pacific and North America, as well as direct links between Darwin and Sydney and Darwin to Singapore. The cable connection is expected to be operational by 2027.

Australia Connect - Bosun subsea cable (part of the Australia Connect subsea cable system), partnering with Google, Vocus, SODA and Next DC to connect the United States, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Connectivity to Australian markets

The Northern Territory is connected to the rest of Australia via a network of terrestrial cables. Recently completed and planned upgrades to this trans-Australia connectivity include:

Terabit Territory – upgrade of Vocus fibre backbone between Darwin, Adelaide and Brisbane to world-class 200 gigabit per second technology. Completed in 2021.

Inligo Unite Cable system connects Darwin to Adelaide, and through Melbourne and Canberra linking to Inligo’s ACC-1 subsea cable.

Telstra Intercity Fibre Network – new dual fibre connections between Darwin and Adelaide, and through other capital cities.

Data centres

The Territory’s improving connectivity is attracting data centre operators including NEXTDC D1 data centre. Located in the Darwin CBD, the data centre delivers up to 7 megawatts of IT load.

• Investment type: Various
• Status: Various
• Region: Northern Territory, Australia
• Project value: Varied

Download the digital infrastructure investment opportunity flyer PDF (333.8 KB).