Slattery puts his money where his mouth is for $1.5b HyperOne project
Brisbane tech entrepreneur Bevan Slattery would deliver a “significant portion’’ of the equity needed to develop the ambitious $1.5 billion HyperOne national fibre network.
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And Slattery’s new spokeswoman, former government minister Kate Jones, said construction on the HyperOne project was planned to start in the first quarter of 2022 with a potential 10,000 jobs to be created.
Jones said the project would be funded by a combination of private capital, commercial financing and potentially some public funding.
“The contribution of each of these will be determined via continued engagement over the coming months,” Jones said.
“It is Mr Slattery’s vision and he will contribute a significant portion of the equity required for the project.”
She said the HyperOne project already had significant support and had received approaches from various parties that wanted to partner or work on the construction project that would provide high-speed connection in regional and city areas.
Slattery has a background in this type of project, although HyperOne would be his most ambitious.
Slattery was behind the $250 million Sydney to Singapore submarine cable and is currently developing the Oman to Australia cable costing about $300 million. He also created data centre company NEXTDC as well as Superloop, PIPE Networks, Cloudscene, SUB.Co and Megaport.
He has an estimated wealth of $564 million.
The project would work in conjunction with the NBN and deliver high-speed internet access to businesses with an emphasis of delivering to regional Australia.
“Most of the existing fibre networks in the country are dated, disjointed and lack capacity to support significant growth,’’ Jones told InQueensland.
“The networks were designed and built almost 20 years ago and did not contemplate the level of data and connectivity that exists today, let alone in the future.
“There also remains a large digital divide between that observed in cities and remote and regional areas.
‘This project will look to close this gap, enabling greater connectivity and bringing new industry to these regions through on and off ramps which will be provided around the network.’’
HyperOne appears to have Government support and would need licensing but would not require specific regulatory approval.
“HyperOne will continue to consult with interested partners and relevant government agencies over the coming months,’’ Jones said.
