Phillip Britt (Aussie Broadband)
Local telco and internet provider Aussie Broadband is pushing west, opening up new operations in Western Australian capital Perth and rolling out fresh fibre across the state.
The new office in Perth is expected to bring 160 new jobs to the area, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed company said, including customer support roles, management, human resources and warehouse positions.
Perth will become the company’s third call centre operation, joining two others in Melbourne. The company’s new Perth footprint will also include a warehouse facility to dispatch locally, meaning customers in the state will receive hardware such as voice over IP (VoIP) adapters, modems and routers more quickly than at present.
At the same time, Aussie Broadband is in the process of rolling out its own privately-owned dark fibre network across WA, including in the Perth CBD.
Thus far, around eight kilometres of 360 core network fibre cable has been installed by the provider’s delivery partners, Dean Constructions and Lightsource Services, which will link Perth CBD at NextDC P2 to NextDC P1 in Malaga, according to Aussie Broadband managing director Phillip Britt.
The company claimed the fibre network could offer speeds of up to 10Gbps for business customers, and speeds in excess of 100Gbps for specialist applications.
Credit: Aussie Broadband Aussie Broadband already has a decent customer base in WA, with over 44,000 residential customers and over 2,700 business customers.
However, it is hoped the new physical presence in the state will afford the company greater flexibility to provide customer service across Australia’s varying time zones while keeping jobs in the country.
According to Britt, the company is ramping up to start operations in the state in July.
“We’re very excited to be opening an office in Perth, where we’ve always had strong support from customers,” Britt said. “Perth has a wealth of tech talent and we’ve got a number of positions that we’re looking to fill.
“For Aussie, this is a great culture fit because Perth people are laid back, friendly and enjoy a good belly laugh,” he added. “We’re looking forward to growing our team even further in Perth and expanding the Aussie Broadband family.”
The expansion comes several months after Aussie Broadband listed publicly on the ASX with a $40-million initial public offering (IPO).
The company said at the time that the funds raised from the IPO would be used to accelerate infrastructure development, acquire new customers and expand its business product offering.
