Telstra has made plans to upgrade its $1.5 billion Internet Protocol (IP) network, Next IP, between Sydney and Melbourne.

Next IP was launched in early 2007 to work with the telco’s NextG system. Targeted at the business sector, the network is used to carry data, voice and video.

The move is in response to a tenfold increase in network traffic volumes between the two locations in the last five years. Ericsson dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM), the Marconi MHL 3000, will be implemented on the existing optic fibre infrastructure.

Ericsson marketing vice-president, Tony Malligeorgos, said in a statement that the DWDM platform will have no impact on the optic fibre network and is capable of delivering 80 channels at 40Gbps per channel over a single fibre pair. There is potential to bump that speed up to 100Gbps once the standards for the technology are ratified.

According to a statement by Telstra networks and services managing director, Michael Rocca, the upgrade will offer four times the capacity once it is finished in March next year.