The new Ten Gigabit Adelaide network has officially launched, with services being offered to businesses in 40 buildings in South Australia’s capital.

The City of Adelaide initiative will see fibre broadband services offered at an additional 140 buildings “shortly”. Over the next two years, businesses in some 1000 buildings are expected to be able to use the service.

The City announced in December that TPG would deliver and operate the new network. In addition to Internet access, the telco is expected sell a range of services over the high-speed network, which can offer uncontested and synchronous data transfers of up to 10 gigabits per second.

“We have been inundated by registrations from businesses wanting to plug into Ten Gigabit Adelaide and, from today, businesses are being connected and will immediately reap the benefits,” Adelaide Lord Mayor Martin Haese said.

“It will not only ensure local businesses have access to 21st century big data and communications enabling services, it will also attract new investment and business from interstate and overseas, furthering our reputation as a connected, smart, entrepreneurial and intelligent city.”

The base service will cost $399 per month (excluding GST) for 1Gbps unlimited Internet access; 9Gpbs bandwidth is available for an additional $199 (excl. GST).

“In addition to connecting these 40 buildings, our team is already out in the field installing the fibre optic extensions to additional buildings,” TPG group executive, enterprise, government and wholesale, Mark Rafferty, said.

“We are proud to be partnering with the City of Adelaide on this exciting infrastructure project – the first network of its kind in Australia.”

Ten Gigabit Adelaide is a separate initiative from the state government backed Gig City project, which is also making high-speed broadband available to businesses in some parts of Adelaide.

Gig City is based on the state’s SABRENet network, with EscapeNet acting as the retail service provider.

Last month SA Labor pledged to offer fibre-based broadband services to residents in Adelaide through further expansion of the Gig City project if it is re-elected.