Broadband Data Services

The Coorong Communications Network

The network is the first publicly available non-Telstra communication network in regional Australia, involving the construction of five microwave towers in the Coorong and a further two towers that connect the network via Murray Bridge to Adelaide. Through building a new telecommunications 'road', we are able to avoid the high access charges imposed by Telstra for using their legacy long distance telephone system.

In each township, further microwave links connect the tower network with nodes in each township. These nodes house broadband data networking switches and advanced Voice-over-IP systems that interconnect with the existing Telstra network in each region.

The new network is an infrastructure deployment that has generated more than two million dollars of investment in the region.

The network more than halves the previously available per-minute call costs across the region for the 18,000-strong Coorong and Murray Bridge communities and the more than 30,000 people in the Mount Gambier area.

The network was co-funded by grants from the Federal 'Networking the nation' program and the South Australian State Government, in addition to substantial cash and in-kind investment in the system by Agile. Agile continues to invest and expand the network to new areas.

The network was created following applications made by the Coorong District Council to the Federal NTN grants process in order to improve rural communications in the Coorong district.

Agile was the successful tenderer to the council, offering a vision of rural communications solutions which far exceeded the original council brief. That vision has been executed successfully, on time and on budget, implementing Agile's advanced network architecture to link the 'city' with the 'bush'.

The Coorong network is the first major rollout of Cisco AS5400 based Universal Port hardware platforms in Australia, following an extended internal testing and development process conducted by Agile in close cooperation with Cisco's San Jose development centre.

These systems support high quality packet switched voice, ISDN, Fax, and V.92 modem services concurrently in a single high density 'carrier class' platform. They allow Agile to operate the equivalent to a complete telephone exchange in a single equipment rack in each major network node.

Map of the Coorong Communications Network