South Australian capital, Adelaide Credit: Dreamstime

Adelaide’s $7.6 million high-speed internet network, delivered by local internet service provider (ISP), EscapeNet, has gone live.

It was revealed in late June that the South Australian ISP had been handed the contract by the South Australian Government to deliver its so-called “GigCity” network in Adelaide.

EscapeNet won the contract after an extensive tender and evaluation process which began in December 2016.

“This is an important milestone as we work towards connecting innovation precincts and co-working spaces to ultra-fast internet that is 100-times faster than the national average,” Science and Information Economy Minister, Kyam Maher, said at the time.

Now, the South Australian Government has sannounced that the ultra-fast internet network went live on 3 August, with state Premier, Jay Weatherill, launching the network at TechinSA.

EscapeNet is delivering the internet services through the South Australian Broadband Research and Education Network (SABRENet) fibre optic network to key innovation sites and co-working spaces across metropolitan Adelaide, including Tonsley Innovation Precinct, TechInSA, Stretton Centre and St Paul’s Creative Centre.

Businesses that are tenants of those precincts will have access to gigabit-speed internet service plans aimed at providing access to affordable and less restrictive plans than what is currently available in the marketplace.

GigCity Adelaide is part of the South Australian Government’s $80 million investment to support innovative businesses, entrepreneurs and researchers through programs and initiatives, including the $10 million South Australian Early Commercialisation Fund and the $50 million South Australian Venture Capital Fund to drive economic growth and job creation.

“By establishing GigCity ultra-fast internet at key innovation precincts, the State Government is investing in a network that will create jobs of the future,” Science and Information Economy Minister Kyam Maher, said.

The launch of the network comes just over a month after the City of Adelaide publicly lamented the National Broadband Network’s (NBN) sluggish arrival in the South Australian capital.

“The City of Adelaide is only 15.5 square kilometres, yet the rollout of the fibre network is planned to take some two years,” chief advisor to the City of Adelaide, Steve Harrison, told the Parliamentary committee reviewing the network’s rollout, in a public hearing on 27 June.

“We respectfully suggest that this is not agile or fast enough to allow out city residents and businesses to be globally competitive,” he said at the time.