Goondiwindi and Warwick are among the regional Queensland towns now connected by QCN Fibre’s backhaul network.

QCN Fibre is jointly owned by government electricity utilities Powerlink Queens land and Energy Queensland.

QCN Fibre’s chief executive, Derek Merdith, said the backhaul provider would partner with local ISPs as well as the major carriers in regional Queensland to improve coverage, capacity and cost.

“In areas currently underserviced by existing telecommunications players, the partnership will build the ‘last mile’ connections to serve the residential and business markets,” Merdith said.

In Goondiwindi, QCN Fibre has partnered with Channel Wireless and local internet service provider Country Broadband Network. Channel Wireless is providing the lastmile connection for the town.

Channel Wireless CEO Dan Thompson said the company could deliver wireless services up to 500Mbps.

“Until now, we had been constrained by the available capacity and high cost, to get our data back to Brisbane and to the internet which meant having to reduce speeds available to customers,” Thompson said. “Working with QCN Fibre means we can open up the pipes.”

QCN has also partnered with Channel Wireless in Warwick, where meat exporter John Dee Export Pty Ltd is a key end user.

“The company has an international reputation in the export beef industry, but its ability to take advantage of growth opportunities offered by online technologies has been hampered by the lack of reasonably priced, highspeed internet,” Merdith said

Article in Communications Day – 27 July 2020