The weekday briefing on Australian telecommunications, data centres and AI infrastructure.
Today's briefing
Monday 2 November 2026
Data centre power and planning dominate the edition.
Transgrid told connection applicants the Sydney basin has limited capacity left after about 1.5 GW of signed load, while the national pipeline reached 26.8GW as Melbourne overtook Sydney.
In Victoria, Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny faces a caretaker deadline on nine applications worth more than $5 billion, as the Municipal Association of Victoria seeks a statewide pause.
SubCo also unveiled its 850-kilometre Sydney–Melbourne fibre route.
Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny must settle nine data centre applications worth more than $5 billion by 6pm on Tuesday, or they wait until after the 28 November state election. All 79 Victorian councils have asked for a moratorium.
SubCo has unveiled SM-1, a greenfield terrestrial fibre route of 850 kilometres between Sydney and Melbourne, due in service in June 2028. Founder Bevan Slattery is also weighing a A$250 million cable ship.
In a letter to connection applicants dated 20 August 2026, Transgrid said the Sydney basin network has limited capacity left after about 1.5 GW of signed data centre load. It said it could unlock up to 2 GW more only through augmentation paid for by proponents.
The Municipal Association of Victoria has voted to ask for a halt to approvals of new and expanded data centres until a planning and environmental framework exists, adding risk to NextDC and GreenSquareDC projects in Melbourne and Geelong before the 28 November state election.
Data Centres Australia and DC Byte put the national pipeline at 26.8GW, up 5.2GW since April, but operating capacity rose by only 0.1GW to 1.6GW. Sydney's pipeline shrank by 3.6GW while Melbourne's grew by 1.7GW.
ACMA reports that 27,361 entities had signed up 39,562 sender IDs by 30 June, before the register began on 1 July 2026 and messages from unregistered senders started carrying an "Unverified" label. Its April to June report also covers scam blocking, a $3.96 million Spam Act penalty and mobile-number fraud action.
ACMA chair Nerida O'Loughlin says the regulator plans to settle its telecommunications scam code by the end of 2026, ahead of framework codes taking effect on 31 March 2027. She also gave blocking figures and an update on the new SMS Sender ID register.
The Electrical Trades Union has told the federal consultation on AI infrastructure that data centres should face tighter size thresholds, apprenticeship mandates, a training levy, new renewable energy contracts and network cost obligations.
Finnish satellite maker ReOrbit says it could act as systems integrator for an Australian-owned low-earth-orbit network, which it estimates would need 600 to 1,000 satellites. Chief commercial officer Markus Räikkönen plans to visit Australia in February.
Canadian carrier Rogers has added Australia, New Zealand and Japan to its satellite-to-mobile roaming service, taking the footprint to four countries including the US.
Annual accounts filed with ASIC show Firmus owes US$550 million in pre-payments by December for its Batam data centre chips, after the company abandoned its public offering. Separately, ASIC chair Sarah Court said the regulator is engaging with the banks that led the failed $5 billion deal.