- Telecommunications carrier Field Solutions (FSG) has formed a partnership with industry giant Optus
- The collaboration will provide broadband and mobile infrastructure and services to rural, regional, and remote Australia
- FSG and Optus will share rural telecommunications towers and sites through a bi-lateral infrastructure agreement
- News of the partnership caused the company’s share value to jump by 50 per cent on Wednesday
- At market open, FSG shares have climbed 6.06 per cent, trading for 3.5 cents per share
Telecommunications carrier Field Solutions (FSG) has formed a partnership with industry giant Optus.
The collaboration will deliver broadband and mobile infrastructure and services to rural, regional, and remote areas of Australia. It forms part of a larger Federal Mobile Black Spot Program (MBSP), which seeks to eliminate telecommunication dead zones.
FSG has an extensive portfolio of rural telecommunication sites, which it is continuing to develop. Each of these sites are able to provide multiple telecommunication services.
Optus will co-locate on FSG’s rural infrastructure, as part of the MBSP. The partnership includes a bi-lateral infrastructure agreement, in which FSG and Optus will share rural telecommunications towers and sites.
The partnership will also allow FSG to extend and expand its connectivity to all 121 NBN national points of interconnect (POI’s).
Field Solutions’ CEO, Andrew Roberts, expressed the company’s pride in working with Optus.
“We share a common desire to improve and service rural, regional, and remote Australia with a range of connectivity and communications options,” Andrew commented.
“Today’s announcement is extremely positive for the residents, agribusinesses and businesses of rural, regional, and remote Australia. FSG’s true broadband delivery model will now provide 3G and 4G mobile services via our partnership with Optus,” he explained.
“As a strong supporter of NBN, we recognise the need to deliver cost-effective business services to rural, regional, and remote Australia. As such, we’ve combined our Optus backhaul and NBNco’s Enterprise Ethernet suite to deliver an extremely cost-effective suite of business-grade connectivity services,” Andrew added.
Optus’ Vice President of Regulatory and Public Affairs, Andrew Sheridan, also welcomed the collaboration.
“Optus is a key supporter of the Commonwealth’s Mobile Black Spot Program, which is delivering mobile coverage and competition for regional Australians, in some cases for the first time,” Andrew stated.
“We congratulate FSG for coming on board as the first Mobile Network Infrastructure provider under the MBSP program. We look forward to working closely together to deliver Optus’ 4G and 3G networks, giving Australians in rural areas the dedicated coverage that they need to stay connected,” he said.
Both companies expect that their combined reach will quickly extend to more remote communities in the coming months.
The news of FSG’s partnership with telecommunications leader Optus caused the company’s share value to jump 50 per cent on Wednesday.
At market open, FSG shares have climbed 6.06 per cent, trading for 3.5 cents per share.