Telstra Expands Asia-Pacific Network With 200  Tbps Boost

Telstra International has established a new benchmark in subsea network performance across the Asia-Pacific region, delivering a 30% increase in capacity across its regional subsea cable and backhaul network. The upgrade adds 200 Tbps of total capacity, marking a major milestone in Telstra’s vision for a highly autonomous, cloud-enabled and resilient global network.

By combining cutting-edge optical technologies with AI-ready infrastructure, Telstra continues to advance scalable, intelligent connectivity for enterprises, hyperscalers and cloud ecosystems across the region.

Pioneering network capacity and performance

The global arm of Telstra has integrated next-generation optical technologies, Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) and Nokia’s Infinite Capacity Engine 7 (ICE7), across its Asia-Pacific infrastructure, enabling up to 1.6 Tbps per wavelength, dramatically increasing throughput and optimising performance on existing fibre assets.

By deploying these technologies, Telstra now delivers 400G services over diverse routes, with plans to introduce 800G offerings. The enhanced flexibility allows hyperscalers, content providers and enterprises to scale capacity dynamically, meeting the growing demands of AI-driven and cloud workloads.

Roary Stasko, CEO of Telstra International, said: “We’ve made strong progress in cloudifying the transport infrastructure layer, allowing us to provision services rapidly and scale high bandwidth to demand: where and when our customers need it.

“Telstra International is among the industry leaders collaborating with both Ciena and Nokia to introduce the cloudification of digital infrastructure.”

Accelerating cloudification for rapid service delivery

Telstra International’s network cloudification strategy transforms traditional, hardware-centric operations into a software-defined platform. By decoupling physical network infrastructure from the control software, the network can operate automatically, enabling faster provisioning and shorter lead times.

Where once capacity provisioning required months, Telstra can now deliver new bandwidth in weeks or even days. The agility directly benefits hyperscalers and global enterprises managing large-scale interconnectivity across Asia-Pacific data centres.

Roary added: “This year, we’re on track to fully cloudify our subsea and backhaul network.”

Towards the Telstra Autonomous Network (TAN)

The capacity expansion supports Telstra’s longer-term vision: the Telstra Autonomous Network (TAN). This initiative aims to create a self-managing, AI-driven network by 2030, transforming operations into a data-led, predictive and API-first ecosystem.

Central to TAN is predictive capacity management, using AI to anticipate network demand, reroute traffic proactively and prevent service degradation. The development of a digital twin of the physical network enables simulation, optimisation and risk-free testing of new services before live deployment.

Enabling the connected future 30 strategy

The 200 Tbps capacity boost directly supports Telstra’s Connected Future 30 corporate strategy, unveiled in 2025. The framework centres on three pillars: nationwide infrastructure investment, AI-driven programmable networks and data-led customer experiences.

Investments in network modernisation and automation are enabling Telstra to transition from a traditional service provider to a Network-as-a-Product (NaaP) model.

Customers can now access, manage and scale network resources via APIs, aligning telecommunications infrastructure with the on-demand principles of cloud computing.

Impact across the Asia-Pacific region

Telstra operates one of the largest subsea networks in the Asia-Pacific, spanning more than 30 major systems and connecting strategic hubs such as Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and the United States.

While the exact routes receiving the upgrade have not been disclosed, the boost strengthens high-traffic corridors and supports key hyperscaler and enterprise connectivity requirements.

For hyperscalers, the new infrastructure delivers bandwidth and flexibility necessary for large-scale inter-data-centre workloads.

For enterprises, it provides lower latency, reduced congestion and enhanced performance for cloud-hosted applications and digital services.

Reinforcing regional leadership

Telstra International’s 200 Tbps capacity expansion establishes a new benchmark for subsea network performance in the Asia-Pacific.

By combining advanced optical technologies with cloudified, AI-ready infrastructure, Telstra reinforces its role as a regional leader, delivering the flexible, high-capacity backbone powering the next generation of digital innovation, cloud ecosystems and AI-driven enterprises.