The weekday briefing on Australian telecommunications, data centres and AI infrastructure.
Today's briefing
Thursday 29 October 2026
Data centre financing and policy dominate the edition.
AirTrunk raised A$4.25 billion in green debt from 32 lenders to keep building its SYD3 campus in Western Sydney, with completion targeted for mid-2028.
Energy minister Chris Bowen wants the AEMC to consider forcing qualifying data centres to contract firmed power, and Queensland says the State will take over data centre approvals from councils.
SHAPE Australia also won an approximately $800m DigiCo SYD1 contract.
AirTrunk has raised A$4.25 billion in green debt from a 32-institution group to keep building SYD3 in Western Sydney, with completion targeted for mid-2028. The deal lands in the same fortnight that NEXTDC's Melbourne grid delay put its own borrowing in question.
Energy minister Chris Bowen wants the AEMC to weigh an obligation on qualifying data centres to secure firm power from new capacity, so other consumers do not carry the cost and reliability risk.
Australian startup WinDC plans to host modular AI data centres built by US firm Armada on NVIDIA's DSX Pod design, targeting 230 MW of AI computing capacity if all goes to plan.
The Queensland Government says the State, not councils, will assess data centre applications under a system due to start in the coming weeks. Detail is yet to be released, but the model is expected to mirror the pathway used for renewable energy projects.
SHAPE Australia has lifted its backlog above $1.5 billion after DigiCo Infrastructure REIT awarded it an approximately $800m contract for the next phase of the SYD1 data centre project.
Telstra's agent, built with Microsoft's new Frontier Company unit, supports more than 272,000 service migrations and delivers recommendations at 95 per cent-plus accuracy in production, Microsoft said.
Felix Mobile is offering 50 per cent off its Unlimited+ plan for the first six months, taking the 80Mbps uncapped mobile plan to $25 a month, TechRadar reported on 28 October 2026.
The Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 has moved from the House of Representatives to the Senate, where the government needs the Greens, and a 12-month transition is expected once it becomes law.
The Commerce Commission has recommended removing New Zealand's mobile co-location regulation because Spark, One NZ and 2degrees have sold their towers, leaving a rule that applies to no one. The decision now rests with Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith.
A Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis of 200 research vessels from 47 nations found Chinese ships spent a statistically significant larger share of time near critical undersea infrastructure in the Pacific.
DCI Data Centers has set up a sustainable finance platform with dedicated Green Loan sub-limits inside its broader financing facilities, with MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation as joint sustainability coordinators. The company did not disclose a facility size in its announcement.