At a glance
Telstra has signed another AI contract on its Aura fibre network, which infrastructure chief Steven Worrall puts at multiples of the Google deal.
Six of Aura's ten routes, about 9,000km of the 14,000km network, are built.
Worrall expects 2027 to sift data centre projects, with those that have social permission and support going ahead; the Commonwealth Bank puts the build at A$150 billion by 2030.
UBS valued Telstra's fixed network unit, InfraCo, at A$28 billion in March, at 15 times earnings against eight times for mobile and broadband.
Telstra has signed another AI contract on Aura, the fibre network it is laying between Australia's capital cities to connect data centres, and describes it as "multiples of the Google deal". Steven Worrall, who leads Telstra's infrastructure business, told the Australian Financial Review in an interview published on 30 September 2026 that the customer is "a major player in the AI ecosystem". He did not name it.
Aura is Telstra's A$1.8 billion investment in a 14,000km network, laid since 2023, that links Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin. Microsoft is its foundation partner, and Google signed in June 2026 in an agreement that swapped Aura fibre for Telstra capacity on three Google subsea cables.
Worrall puts the new contract at multiples of Google's, which he says was itself multiples of Microsoft's. InfraCo, the Telstra unit that holds the fixed network, reported income of A$2.8 billion for the year to 30 June 2026, up 2.5%, and the AI spending boom has yet to show up in it in a big way. Worrall says that is about to change.
Google was becoming Aura's largest client on 13 August
On Telstra's results call on 13 August 2026, Worrall described Google as "now becoming our single largest client on Aura". By his account the new contract is larger again. Chief executive Vicki Brady said on the same call that the Aura sales pipeline had grown significantly over the previous six months.
Telstra has named Microsoft, Google, AWS and Firmus, the Australian AI infrastructure company, as long-term customers across Aura, its subsea cables and its long-haul fibre. In the interview, Worrall said more announcements are coming. Worrall also said Telstra has privileged access to AI firms' most advanced models, and the Financial Review said these would probably include Anthropic's.
Customer | What Telstra has disclosed | When |
|---|---|---|
Microsoft | Foundation partner on Aura | Named at FY26 results, 13 August 2026 |
Aura fibre swapped for capacity on three Google subsea cables; multiples of the Microsoft deal, per Worrall | Agreement June 2026; "single largest client" on 13 August 2026 | |
AWS | Long-term contract on Telstra's fibre or subsea network; assets not disclosed | Named at FY26 results, 13 August 2026 |
Firmus | Long-term contract on Telstra's fibre or subsea network; assets not disclosed | Named at FY26 results, 13 August 2026 |
Unnamed AI company | Multiples of the Google deal, per Worrall | Australian Financial Review, 30 September 2026 |
Source: Telstra FY26 results and results call, 13 August 2026; Steven Worrall in the Australian Financial Review, 30 September 2026.
Six of Aura's ten routes are built, about 9,000km in all
On 13 August Telstra reported more than 8,500km of Aura in the ground and six routes ready for service. In the interview, Worrall put the build at about 9,000km of the 14,000km, with six of ten routes built.
Telstra has named three of the six. The coastal Sydney to Melbourne path through Canberra opened in October 2025 at up to 83.6 terabits a second, after its first leg opened in June 2025. The central path between the two cities and the Sydney to Perth route through Adelaide followed in June 2026.
Telstra's results presentation shows further routes toward Brisbane and Darwin. Zerra has filed a 1.44GW data centre application at Kogan, west of Brisbane, where Anthropic has signed a long-term lease, the Financial Review reported on 16 September 2026. Firmus plans 2.7GW across Stirling North and Tailem Bend in South Australia, which Telstra's Sydney to Perth route crosses via Adelaide. Vocus, another long-haul fibre carrier, is building a Sydney to Melbourne duct due in 2029 and a Brisbane to Darwin route due in 2030.
Telstra faces steeper competition for subsea cables, including from SUBCO, the cable developer led by Bevan Slattery, which is spending more than A$700 million on APX East, a cable between Sydney and California. Worrall called the competition good for Australia and said the country could become "a net provider of AI services to Asia".
A sifting of data centre projects is due in 2027, Worrall says
Worrall expects 2027 to bring a "sifting out" of projects, with those that have social permission and the support they need going ahead. Not all of the prospective investment will be built, he said, and not every investor will make money. Telstra wants "to underwrite the cycle, not ride the wave".
The Commonwealth Bank estimates the data centre build in Australia will cost A$150 billion by 2030. Worrall said the AI spending behind it, in the billions and possibly trillions of dollars, rests on those data centres being connected to each other. On the grid side, the Australian Energy Market Operator counted 9GW of data centre connection capacity in its connection process at 30 June.
Worrall said Australia should attract as much AI infrastructure investment as possible, but on its own terms. That means questioning whether locally owned infrastructure is in the national interest "versus the commercial interest of an offshore player", and making sure training AI models in Australia does not come at the expense of content creators or jobs.
UBS valued InfraCo at A$28 billion in March on 15 times earnings
Brady surprised many by keeping Telstra's fibre network rather than selling it for as much as A$15 billion. In March 2026 UBS put a 15 times earnings multiple on InfraCo, valuing it at A$28 billion, against eight times and A$49 billion for Telstra's mobile and broadband business.
Eric Choi, chief telecommunications analyst at investment bank Barrenjoey Capital Partners, told clients in early September that Aura is a clear area of potential upside for Telstra. He said the market attributes higher multiples to InfraCo's assets than the share price reflects, and that InfraCo and Aura could win additional contracts.
Is the new customer Anthropic?
Anthropic's lease at Kogan was reported on 16 September 2026, two weeks before Worrall described a new contract with "a major player in the AI ecosystem". Kogan sits west of Brisbane, away from the three Aura routes Telstra has named, and an AI data centre there needs long-distance fibre to reach users in Brisbane and Sydney. The Financial Review also said Telstra's access to advanced AI models would probably include Anthropic's.
AWS, a long-term Telstra customer, fits Worrall's description, and so does Anthropic. On the timing of its Kogan lease and where that campus sits, Anthropic seems the likelier of the two.
What to watch
The customer's name. Worrall called the customer "a major player in the AI ecosystem". Telstra has named Microsoft, Google, AWS and Firmus as Aura customers, so a name would settle whether the new contract is with one of them or a new company.
The four routes still to build. Telstra's results presentation shows routes toward Brisbane and Darwin, and Telstra has not said whether they are among the four.
Telstra's half-year result. The result for the six months to 31 December 2026 will report whether the AI contracts have begun to lift InfraCo's income, which rose 2.5% to A$2.8 billion in FY26.
Where Telstra spends in FY27. Telstra has guided A$200 million to A$300 million of strategic investment in Aura and its satellite partnership with Viasat. Where it goes would indicate which of the four unbuilt routes come next.