Digital Infrastructure Research, Forecasts & Analysis

11 June 2026 · Digital Infrastructure · Brief

Australia's AI Bargain: Capital Without Control

: Australia is absorbing large-scale AI infrastructure investment — led by Anthropic and Microsoft — under a policy framework that is deliberately non-binding. The National AI Plan (2026) positions Australia as a destination for foreign AI capital but imposes no mandatory guardrails on frontier AI de…

27 Nov 2025 · Telecom · Brief

Time to Abolish the Regional Broadband Scheme?

: News has emerged today that the Minister for Communications has approved an ACCC recommendation to reduce the Regional Broadband Levy from $8.46 to only $2.17 per month per broadband line for 2025-26. Despite its name, the Levy is actually paid by nbn Co’s urban fibre infrastructure competitors. In…

14 Nov 2025 · Telecom · Brief

TPG's Strategic Shift to Telecom Sustainability

: This brief looks into the strategic shift of TPG Telecom towards an asset-light business model, and how this transition can improve return on investment and shareholder value following its significant infrastructure divestitures. Recent moves, including a $3 billion capital return strategy and a pr…

18 Sept 2025 · Telecom · Brief

FY25 results - Australian telco industry splits into four camps

: The 2025 financial year confirmed a great divergence in Australian telecommunications, where the sector's growth was overwhelmingly driven by challengers leveraging wholesale contracts and M&A to gain scale. While incumbents like Telstra and TPG focused on cost discipline and shareholder returns, c…

28 May 2025 · Telecom · Brief

Telstra’s Connected Future 30 drives a new industry narrative

: Telstra’s Investor Day announcement of its new Connected Future 30 Strategy is a watershed for the telecommunications industry. But this is not because there is anything new about AI technology or digital infrastructure. Telstra’s achievement is to craft these elements into a narrative of growth an…

27 Mar 2025 · Telecom · Brief

USO reform - the Budget dog that didn’t bark

: Abstract: This week’s Federal budget suggests stability for the USO program to the end of the decade. This is despite the impact of LEO satellite services in regional areas, which the Government plans to incorporate into the existing USO policy framework. In our view, this is a lost opportunity for…

20 Feb 2025 · Telecom · Brief

No surprises in Telstra’s improved 1H25 results

: Telstra’s 1H25 results were close to guidance. We see broadly stable trends in segment revenues, and a profitability boost from heavy cost cutting in response to last year’s slump. This has led to a recovery in profit margins which allows Telstra to justify ongoing network capex.

10 Feb 2025 · Telecom · Brief

DeepSeek’s Disruption – AI, Geopolitics, and Market Shifts

: DeepSeek has disrupted the global AI landscape, demonstrating that high-performance models can be developed at a fraction of the cost of Western alternatives. This breakthrough has triggered a US$1 trillion stock market sell-off, raising critical investment, regulatory, and national security concer…

12 Dec 2024 · Telecom · Brief

ACCC broadband stats show LEOSat potential - but also problems

: This report analyses the ACCC’s December 2024 Measuring Broadband Australia report, which benchmarks satellite broadband for the first time. While Starlink demonstrates high average download speeds, it exhibits significant performance variation and capacity limits during the 5pm to 10pm busy period…

5 Dec 2024 · Telecom · Brief

Tasman Ring cable will help integrate Australia/New Zealand data centre markets

: This report analyses the announcement of the Tasman Ring cable network by Chorus and Datagrid. The 6,000 km system will connect major hubs in Australia and New Zealand, providing up to 540Tbps of capacity. This infrastructure is critical for integrating the two markets, enabling load shifting for A…

29 Nov 2024 · Telecom · Brief

How Bosun subsea cable and data centre investment will shape Australia’s Indo-Pacific future

: This report analyses Australia's emergence as a pivotal digital hub in the Indo-Pacific, driven by Google’s Bosun subsea cable and a projected $26 billion investment in data centre infrastructure. With data centre capacity expected to grow from 1,350 MW in 2024 to 3,100 MW by 2030, Australia is pos…

22 Nov 2024 · Telecom · Brief

NBN anticipates big lift in NBN connections

: This report analyses NBN Co's Consultation Paper 1 for the FY27-FY29 regulatory cycle, highlighting a projected acceleration in connections. Despite NBN Co gaining only 34,000 connections in FY23 and 45,000 in FY24, the new strategy assumes a significant lift in greenfields FTTP and fixed wireless…