Telstra International charts a course for 800 Tbps and autonomous networkingTelstra International charts a course for 800 Tbps and autonomous networking

Between now and 2030, Telstra International will upgrade its network – which spans some 400,000 km and provides access to around 2,000 PoPs in 200 countries and territories – from 235 Tbps of lit capacity to more than 800 Tbps.

This, says Telstra, will enable it to meet customers' insatiable demand for bandwidth, data centre access, and growth in backbone networks, which is being fuelled by cloud and AI application usage along key global routes, in particular intra-Asia, transpacific, and Asia to Australia.

Indeed, Telstra International CEO Roary Stasko said he expects traffic to at least triple between now and 2030.

"In order to deliver this [capacity], we need a step change. We are transforming our network at all layers and innovating with strategic partners to apply the principles of virtualised and cloud technologies to the network," he said Stasko.

"With the scale of our subsea network in the Pacific, this move will better position us to ensure the stability of the world's digital connectivity, and support the future growth of local economies," he said.

Telstra has tapped up Infinera and Ciena to provide various hardware and software solutions for its upgrade.

These suppliers will enable Telstra to virtualise more of its infrastructure, which will play an important role when it comes to increasing available subsea and backhaul capacity, the telco said.

"As network operators look to upgrade their networks to meet rapidly increasing customer bandwidth demands, flexible compact modular solutions like Infinera's GX platform play a critical role in delivering scalable, high-performance, and cost-effective optical transport solutions for subsea networks, while also supporting multiple generations of embedded optical engines," said Nick Walden, SVP of worldwide sales at Infinera. "We are excited to partner with Telstra to upgrade and modernise its network, enabling them to increase capacity and offer a new kind of network with predictive capabilities and powered by AI."

Indeed, AI – as well as being a growing source of traffic on the network – also promises to help Telstra to bear this burden more efficiently.

Over the next five years, it plans to implement AI, ML and cognitive computing to enable self-management, while standards-based APIs will also be deployed in order to simplify interoperability. This will complement the work that is already underway to simplify Telstra's network, remove legacy platforms, and introduce next-generation inventory and management systems using Ciena's Blue Planet solution.

"Telstra International is making significant strides toward a highly autonomous and adaptive network, and Blue Planet will support this transformation by providing intelligent automation for its multi-vendor network and services," said Joe Cumello, SVP and general manager of Ciena's Blue Planet division.

"By 2030 we will have built a highly autonomous network able to detect underutilised routes and turn capacity up or down or respond to changes or detect vulnerabilities such as temperature levels and move traffic off those to avoid outages," Stasko said.

This announcement comes a week after Telstra International's parent company unveiled plans to accelerate its in-house AI strategy by establishing a AUD700 million joint venture with Accenture.

Between that and this subsea upgrade programme, Telstra is making all the right noises when it comes to making itself fit for the AI era.