Basslink switched on

The long-awaited Basslink service has been switched on.

After extensive testing, Basslinks’s Melbourne to Hobart fibre optic cables carried its first commercial broadband traffic.

Previously, Telstra held the broadband monopoly in Tasmania, being the only service provider in the state that could offer high-speed Internet. According to a press statement, the company’s new service will put pressure on backhaul competition and drive servicing prices down for broadband providers and resellers.

A number of Internet service providers (ISPs), including Internode, have already signed up with Basslink and the company is in discussions with several more.

Basslink will disclose the full list of participants at an official launch event next week.

Netspace didn’t wait for the new fibre service, opting instead to rollout its own ADSL2+ equipment in May.