Gold Coast City Council has gone to tender for the design and construction of a city-wide fibre optic WAN network in preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Instead of waiting for the NBN roll out to reach the Gold Coast, the council will invest its own money to build its own infrastructure.
The tender closes on 16 November, and the council expects the contract will be awarded before Christmas.
A City of Gold Coast spokesperson told CRN the city needed to upgrade its communications infrastructure beyond the investments that are proposed by NBN.
"The difference will be spending money now to own the infrastructure and having wide-ranging options for service upgrades, or spending the money in future to lease the infrastructure, with reduced opportunities for enhancements," they said.
The council said the total cost of the investment wouldn't be known until the tender was awarded.
The Gold Coast currently uses a range of fibre, copper and microwave links to carry out is functions, including transmitting CCTV information to operational centres.
According to the council, there is a need for better services during the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which the Gold Coast is hosting.
"NBN will not be fully deployed across the Gold Coast until after GC2018. Given the range and scale of fibre requirements for the games, including public safety and security, it has been decided to take the opportunity to upgrade a number of the city’s existing systems," the spokesperson said.
"It should be noted that the legacy benefits of the investment are considerable, including a full upgrade to high-definition CCTV across the city’s portfolio. This will enhance public safety, transport management and emergency services response systems for the games and into the future."
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