Mining billionaire Andrew Twiggy Forrest’s Tattarang takes investment stake in Sydney-based dark fibre provider FibreconX

This Sydney company is aiming to loosen Telstra’s grip on ultra-fast dark fibre, and has received a $25m boost from the mining billionaire’s investment vehicle.

Andrew Forrest is backing dark fibre. Pic Colin Murty The Australian

Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s investment vehicle Tattarang has taken an investment stake in Sydney-based dark fibre provider FibreconX, with demand for super-fast fibre ramping up amid the Covid pandemic.

FibreconX, led by former TPG executive is the first telecommunications company to build a dedicated duct and dark fibre network connecting all of Sydney’s 32 major data centres, which it completed this year.

Tattarang’s investment, understood to be around $25m, will turbocharge the company’s next phase of growth in Melbourne and Brisbane for delivery by 2022.

“Tattarang is a very welcome addition for us, we’re a private company who have had a good core group of investors to date. But it’s capital intensive infrastructure that we’re dealing with, and I think in bringing in Tattarang, we’re bringing in someone that understands the value of the capital being spent and we’re excited to have them on board.

“We’ve got to move quickly, we’ve got to be able to offer this product to a lot more people as soon as we can so next year is about expanding this network as quickly as possible.”

Previously the industry has been almost wholly reliant on Telstra’s ducts, Mr Rafferty said.

“They control the capacity, they control what streets have access to repairs, it’s a real pecking order,” he said. “I’ve had 20 years in this game and we wanted to come up with a concept to eliminate any reliance on anybody.

“By providing high-capacity, data centred dedicated dark fibre services at a leading price point, we are enabling our partners and multinational technology companies to deliver higher quality services to customers and assisting them meet the rapidly increased data demands of our regions.”

John Hartman, Tattarang’s chief investment officer, said that FibreconX is well-placed to meet future rampant nationwide demand for high-capacity fibre.

Dark fibre refers to unlit fibre optic cable, which has been laid out but not yet activated. It’s privately operated or managed by the end user.

FibreconX’s grand plan is to ‘upset the whole playing field’

“Fibre infrastructure is a key driver for the continued digitisation of the Australian economy, and we believe FibreconX is ideally positioned to capitalise on growing demand for reliable, flexible and secure data and connection services in Australia,” he said.

FibreconX’s grand plan is to ‘upset the whole playing field’, according to Mr Rafferty. He said that his company’s platform Fusion delivers automation in configuring, quoting and provisioning services between data centres within 40 seconds, which has traditionally been a month’s long process.

“We believe Australian cities can be the centres of tomorrow’s global digital economy and we are proud to be leading the delivery of the critical building blocks that will create this future,” Mr Rafferty said.

“For too long the people that own the fibre have been controlling the retail and wholesale markets at the same time, and they want the retail customers for themselves.

“There are hundreds of wholesalers out there that need access to infrastructure, and we‘re going to provide it.”