Tag Archives: 5G

Ambra to integrate private LTE/5G wireless infrastructure into Sandvik AutoMine platform

Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions is partnering with Ambra Solutions, a leading provider of private LTE/5G wireless network industrial telecommunications, to, it says, transform communication capabilities tailored for Sandvik’s AutoMine® product families.

Ambra Solutions will serve as an integrator, designing and deploying a private LTE/5G wireless infrastructure specifically tailored for AutoMine systems, to improve efficiency and safety in underground mining operations, Sandvik says. Leveraging Ambra Solutions’ expertise in private LTE/5G technologies and intelligent mining solutions, this collaboration addresses critical communication challenges in underground mining.

The integration of Ambra Solutions’ LTE/5G connectivity into Sandvik’s AutoMine systems creates underground connectivity that is more secure, safe, reliable and high-speed. Through advanced data connectivity, this collaboration enables real-time and seamless communication, advanced location and asset tracking and improved safety and productivity for both mining personnel and equipment, according to the companies.

“This partnership will enhance the communication capabilities of our AutoMine systems and expedite their implementation,” Marko Jokinen, Digital Ecosystem Manager, Automation at Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions, said. “We remain committed to providing solutions that address the industry’s evolving needs and pave the way for safer, more efficient and technologically advanced mining operations.”

Through streamlined deployment processes and the provision of pre-integrated and verified solutions, Sandvik and Ambra Solutions will reduce testing time required on customer sites, they say. This not only enhances productivity and performance but also ensures cost-effectiveness for mining operations.

Éric L’Heureux, President and CEO, Ambra Solutions, said: “By partnering with Sandvik to deliver innovative communication solutions tailored for AutoMine, we will empower mine operators with a new form of connectivity.

“This collaboration not only advances the deployment of underground cellular networks but also creates opportunities for further IoT integration and technological advancements in the mining industry.”

ABB, IGO and Perenti on collaborating for full mine electrification

An industry panel discussion on the potential of electrifying IGO’s Cosmos underground nickel project at IMARC 2023 today highlighted the opportunities, risks and complexities associated with ‘greening’ a brownfield mining project at the moment.

Back in June, Perenti and ABB, in collaboration, were awarded an inaugural contract by IGO to undertake a study for the full underground electrification of the project, in Western Australia.

This study was to see experts from Perenti and ABB work side by side with IGO to provide a pathway for the optimum design of mine electrification at Cosmos. All aspects of electrification were to be considered in the study, including:

  • Mine design optimisation for electric operations;
  • Production and operating philosophy;
  • Fleet selection;
  • Power distribution and electrical infrastructure design;
  • Electrification system and battery management;
  • ESG and safety impact analysis; and
  • Cost modelling of both capital and operating expenditure.

At IMARC today, on the ‘Going All-Electric: Collaborating to Fully Electrify IGO’s Underground Cosmos Nickel Project’ panel discussion, chaired by Emma Jones, Innovation Management Lead, Southern Hemisphere, GHD, all three companies had representatives on stage to flesh out some of these bullet points, with the result being a fascinating discussion on implementing what is still a revolutionary concept.

The Cosmos study is split into three distinct parts with the companies currently half way through the process.

Both Chris Carr, Head of Technical Services at IGO, and Darren Kwok, Head of Mining Electrification and Technology, Perenti, admitted that the task at hand was highly complex.

Carr said the process would be much easier in a greenfield mine, with the potential ventilation and refrigeration cost reductions that would come with introducing electric machines likely to “pay” for the new equipment required.

At the same time, he acknowledged that the networks and communication would need to be improved to effectively run an all-electric mine to allow operators to know what vehicles had what state of charge and deploying these machines in the optimal way.

“This could potentially see whole sites use Wi-Fi or 5G for better data transmission,” he said. “At the same time, we would know where every vehicle is and where every vehicle is going, providing the opportunity for ‘true’ collision avoidance.”

Kwok said there was likely to be a “flow-down effect” when electrifying equipment, which would have an impact on how mines plan, schedule and operate. “We need a holistic view of a mine,” he said, explaining that “just in time” mining would not work in an all-electric operation where energy management is a key concern.

Kwok added: “We also have to link the fleet together with the rest of the operations – that is the secret sauce here.”

Mehrzad Ashnagaran, Global Product Line Manager – Electrification and Composite Plant, ABB, said any mining company looking to fully electrify their mines needed to recognise that they were working with “immature technology” that cannot meet all of their requirements.

“The design of an all-electric mine is different to the vision we originally had,” he said. “This is why we need to break the process down into manageable projects for a phased approach that can allow customers to start decarbonising now.”

This is where the company’s eMine™ approach comes in, providing a roadmap of solutions on the way to longer-term electrification goals.

“In reality, the solution we are offering today may not be the same one we offer companies in five to 10 years’ time,” he added.

There was also an engaging exchange on the risk management associated with embarking on this exercise.

Ashnagaran said, for ABB, the Cosmos study and other all-electric projects the company is working on would see its vendor agnostic and interoperable approach tested and scrutinised.

“The whole eMine philosophy, however, is that no-one can go on such a journey alone; we need to collaborate with partners,” he said.

Kwok said the study allowed the service provider to learn and understand the terms of how electrified mining can practically work.

“We, at Perenti, already understand what ‘good’ looks like [from an operating perspective]…and we also understand what change looks like at a mine site,” he said, adding that the company already has electric machine data to pull into such studies.

Carr said building ‘the electric mine’ is both a risk and an opportunity, with the mining company prepared to financially back most of the expense associated with this as it had, potentially, the most to gain from a successful outcome.

He also added a bit of wider IGO context to reinforce the point.

“At IGO, we invest A$70 million ($44.5 million) a year on exploration, putting drills into the ground,” he said. “Not all of those holes are deemed a success, but they allow us to keep building our knowledge,”

The same is true for this all-electric Cosmos study.

“Regardless of the outcome, we will learn a lot,” he said. “We are driven to be the ‘first to be first’ here; first to be second simply does not work for us.”

Huawei boosts Shaanxi Coal production efficiency & safety with 5G-backed solution

The intelligent mine solution powered by 5G and the industrial internet that was jointly developed by Huawei and Shaanxi Coal Industry Co Ltd hit its one-year milestone on April 26, 2023, marking a full year of continuous operations and significantly improving production efficiency and operational safety at the two mines of Shaanxi Coal Company. This makes a powerful case for intelligent upgrade for the global mining industry.

Jun Xu, CTO of Huawei’s Mining BU, said that through Huawei’s extensive field involvement of mining production and cooperative application of Huawei’s 5G, cloud and AI image splicing technology to Shaanxi Coal Company’s Hongliulin Coal Mine and Xiaobaodang Coal Mine, the mines have successfully implemented above ground monitoring and control on operation of fully automated underground mining face cutting. It thereby also initialised the core intelligence of the underground mining process.

Through leveraged application of Huawei 5G, cloud and AI/IT technologies throughout the whole mining cycle, such as mine geological exploration, tunnelling and belt transportation, intelligence can be implemented across the entire mining process, for example, various deployments of underground robots.

These technologies are also widely used in all aspects of mine management, for instance, an industrial Internet platform with a three-level architecture for Shaanxi Coal Company, its mine subsidiaries, and the coal mines themselves, enabling collaborative management and control, intelligent sensing, and efficient decision making; and enhancing employee happiness and experience, for example with a downloadable underground mine-taxi app.

The above three levels of solutions are modular – Hongliulin Coal Mine and Xiaodang Coal Mine worked closely with Huawei on customised development, which led to simple, easy and result oriented implementation. As a result, Hongliulin Coal Mine now has 18% fewer workers working underground; 97.7% of its mine faces now support intelligent mining, and intelligent management has been made possible for the underground mine face using 5G video splicing and video calls.

More than 2,700 sets of equipment at the mine are now interconnected using unified data standards, with 170 million pieces of data streamed to the data lake every day. This data has been used to create over 100 digital models. This data can also be used to inform production and operation decision making and develop new digital applications using ‘zero-code’ development tools.

Xiaobaodang Coal Mine’s underground workforce has been reduced by 42%. Key facilities in the mine, such as the underground pump rooms and substations, have achieved intelligent, unattended operations, thanks to machine patrol inspection and video-based collaboration. In terms of production safety, environmental monitoring devices are able to autonomously detect and give out warnings related to gas build-up, fires, flooding, ventilation issues, and geological events, and enable real-time data interconnection. This can support more informed decision making to greatly improve safety management in the mine.

Xu said that Huawei’s Mine BU has developed many intelligent mine references by working with partners and mining enterprises. He added that it is committed to quickly bringing digital technology to every mine on the basis of industrial Internet. To achieve this goal, Huawei is working to provide digital services for major coal and metal mining enterprises around the world to enable safer and more efficient intelligent mine management with fewer staff working underground.   

Newcrest, Ericsson and Telstra Purple to trial 4G LTE and 5G tech at Cadia

Newcrest Mining will trial advanced 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G mobile technologies underground at its Cadia mine, in New South Wales, Australia, to assess the potential of cellular delivery of data and video to support a smarter, safer and more sustainable mine, it says.

In partnership with Ericsson and Telstra Purple, Newcrest will deploy a private 4G LTE and 5G trial network in its underground operations at Cadia in the coming months. This announcement follows previous engagements where the trio worked to improve communications coverage, performance and safety with private 4G LTE at its Lihir mine in Papua New Guinea, and more recently for surface operations at the Cadia Valley Operations (CVO).

Speaking at the Sweden-Australia Sustainable Mining Summit in Sydney, Australia, today, CVO General Manager, Aaron Brannigan, said modern mining is a data-driven business, with technology and digitalisation creating new levels of productivity and safety, greater efficiency and reduced environmental impact.

“In the ongoing quest for productivity, efficiency and safety, Newcrest must use every tool at our disposal to boost performance at site while continuing to ensure that everyone at our mines gets home safely at the end of the day,” he said. “With 4G and 5G mobile technologies potentially offering better performance and capabilities than Wi-Fi, this trial will help Newcrest to assess its viability for greater coverage, capacity and functionality to support advanced underground automation, our Connected Worker strategy and future growth at Cadia.

“It’s an exciting time for Newcrest and for Australian mining, and this is a great practical example of how Australia’s biggest industry can leverage Australia’s position as a global 5G leader to further drive digitalisation in the mining sector and help develop a smart, safer and more sustainable mine.”

The trial will use Ericsson’s Private 5G (EP5G) solution for Industry 4.0 enterprises to assess different cellular approaches for coverage and capacity needs and deployment economics. It will include the use of various 4G and 5G radio types, massive- and multi-user MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output) advanced antenna systems for high density and high capacity connectivity requirements, and Uplink Booster technology derived from custom-made Ericsson Silicon system-on-a-chip 5G processors to increase uplink signal strength and data throughput, Newcrest explained.

Ericsson’s Head of Australia and New Zealand, Emilio Romeo, said: “5G connectivity will be instrumental in enabling advanced teleremote and autonomous technologies, which are integral to industries such as mining. We’re delighted to be working with Newcrest and Telstra Purple to trial Ericsson’s 4G LTE and 5G solutions, and enable Newcrest to develop know-how on how to best deploy them underground.”

Telstra Purple Digital Transformation Executive, Paul Nicholls, said: “We’ve been thrilled to see what our 4G LTE and 5G mobile network technologies have been able to do through this project, from supporting wireless mining applications underground, to boosting safety for the local team. These technologies are absolutely transformative for a broad range of industries, and it’s exciting to be part of industry 4.0 innovation in Australia.”

BCX Wireless, Huawei, MPI, Umnotho and Dahua bring 5G to Nungu mine

BCX Wireless Solutions, one of the largest systems integrators in Africa and a division of Telkom, has partnered with Huawei, MPI Holdings, Umnotho Technologies and Dahua to bring 5G connectivity and 5G-enabled technologies to the Nungu Mine in Elandspruit, South Africa.

The deployment of the latest 5G-enabled technologies is set to radically enhance the mine’s operational efficiencies and safety, according to BCX.

“This is a game changer for the entire industry and the hundreds of thousands of people it employs,” Neo Phukubje, Managing Executive at BCX, said.

The mine’s improved wireless connectivity has enabled data analytics and automation for video monitoring via drone technology, integrated connectivity with handheld devices and tablets, and a facial recognition proximity detection system, the company said.

Wireless technology in the form of 5G creates possibilities to transform every area of the operation, from workplace safety to improved productivity through predictive intelligence, BCX says.

Gert Venter from MPI said: “The importance placed on the partner ecosystem in the project helped develop vital innovations in safety. This includes 5G-enabled proximity alert between two heavy vehicles for collision prevention, which can mean the difference between life and death.”

Frenndy Wang, Channel Department Director at Huawei South Africa’s Enterprise Division, says in addition to improved safety and operational efficiency, another differentiator is that 5G allows for AI-based real-time data analytics, a key to smart mining.

Wang said: “Data is a valuable asset for miners, enabling ‘data-driven decision making‘ in the critical mining environment. Fifth generation connectivity will make the South African mining sector globally competitive. We are excited about working together with our partners like BCX to drive digital transformation in the mining sector, which is such a crucial industry in the economy.”

The project at the Nungu Mine consists of two phases: above-ground and underground. In phase one, BCX deployed 5G-enabled cameras at critical points at the mine to enable:

  • Proximity detection, enabled by IoT sensors and digital processing technologies;
  • A stockpiling monitoring system, enabled by footage collected via drones and processed via the digital edge computing systems;
  • In-cab connectivity to monitor driver fatigue and collision prevention to minimise the number of incidents and collisions; and
  • Pedestrian Protection System, enabling the safety and monitoring of miners on site.

Phase two will see the extension of connectivity underground to enable a fully connected smart mine that will increase security, supply motion sensors that trigger an alarm and enables the mine’s control room to monitor underground activity effectively, according to BCX.

Phukubje concluded: “As proven with this launch, wireless technology can be harnessed in powerful ways that make a lasting difference. It builds on our confidence and excitement to work in partnership with all industries from finance, aviation and agriculture to healthcare so they too can benefit from becoming 5G-enabled, fully integrated and connected to a new world of infinite possibilities.”

SES and AXESS to connect remote mining operations with O3b mPOWER

SES and AXESS Networks say they are accelerating the digital transition of the mining industry with a collaboration focused on SES’s second-generation medium earth orbit (MEO) system O3b mPOWER.

Under this multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreement, mining sector users will be able to benefit from the cutting-edge low-latency Onshore Energy & Mining mPOWERED connectivity service, they say.

SES’s Onshore Energy & Mining mPOWERED service will provide the highest throughput available from a satellite system and deliver dedicated and carrier-grade networks to AXESS’ customers reliably regardless of their remote locations. O3b mPOWER can deliver up to multiple gigabits per second per site, enabling AXESS’ customers to accelerate the digitalisation of their operations and sites globally, boosting profitability through access to new applications and efficiency, as well as improving staff safety and welfare.

SES’s second-generation MEO connectivity service also brings the cloud closer to the end customers and can enable edge computing to support the use of 5G and IoT in the mining industry, it says.

Simon Gatty Saunt, Vice President of Networks Sales, Europe, at SES, said: “Transition towards smart mining is already turbocharging profits, and revolutionising industry’s environmental and societal impact. We are proud of the success our partnership with AXESS has already had in facilitating this change, thanks to our multi-orbit GEO and MEO network, and are excited to further accelerate it with the O3b mPOWER service.”

Guido Neumann, President AXESS EMEA, said: “This agreement builds on a long and successful relationship with SES, which has helped us to provide our customers with the best-in-class, reliable and resilient connectivity for their operations. As we are seeing a considerable uptake in demand for the carrier-grade solutions globally, but especially in the EMEA and APAC region, we are honoured to play an active role in scaling the digital transition in the mining sector through introducing O3b mPOWER and the Onshore Energy & Mining mPOWERED service.”

Field Solutions Holdings extends communications connection with Kestrel Coal

Australia-based Field Solutions Holdings Limited says it has been selected as exclusive preferred supplier for enterprise Managed Desktop, Network and general IT services for Kestrel Coal on a five-year contract term.

Coming with revenue of circa-A$25 million ($17 million), the contract extends Field Solutions’ existing connectivity provision relationship with Kestrel Coal, while leveraging its Regional Australia Network telecommunications infrastructure.

“The award of this enterprise contract to FSG validates and reinforces our strategy to build infrastructure and deploy full-time resources into rural, regional and remote Australia,” Andrew Roberts, FSG CEO, said.

FSG has been operating and building infrastructure across central Queensland for the past five years, providing residential, business and enterprise telecommunication services from its Emerald regional headquarters.

This win consolidates FSG as the largest Managed Services organisation in Emerald and surrounding areas and will see FSG expand its local operations at its Emerald Regional headquarters, the company said.

“Field Solutions’ Regional Australia Network services the mining regions northeast and west of Emerald and FSG has provided connectivity services to Kestrel Coal for three years, together with other mining and agribusiness customers,” Roberts said.

Kestrel Coal ran a competitive process to select FSG as its preferred IT partner, FSG says. Its mine is 51 km northeast of Emerald and was managed by Rio Tinto until 2018. It is one of the largest coking coal mines in the world, with an estimated 158 Mt of reserves.

Roberts added: “Last year, FSG acquired Infrastructure as a Service, cloud and ISP provider TasmaNet, which bolstered FSG’s existing capability to deliver enterprise grade managed and cloud services. This contract win highlights the value of our recent TasmaNet acquisition.”

FSG says it is currently finalising commercial terms for the Managed Network and Managed Services contracts and expects the transition to be completed by the end of July. Additional IT and procurement services will be sourced on an as-needs-basis over the course of the five-year term.

The company is continuing to pursue several key mining services contracts in central Queensland, according to Roberts.

“Mining and agribusiness areas across Australia will continue to be key focus areas for FSG to deploy its own infrastructure and services,” he said.

These areas will be serviced by FSG’s 4G and 5G Regional Australia Network, which is currently under construction.

OZ Minerals Prominent Hill joins Aqura 5G Underground Initiative

Aqura says its 5G Underground Initiative in Australia is progressing to plan, with the company having recently added OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill mine to the project, joining representatives from one of Northern Star Resources’ operations in the project.

Aqura, recently acquired by Telstra Purple, was awarded a grant back in 2021 from the Australian Government under the 5G Innovation Initiative to augment the organisation’s own development work to address the challenge of delivering underground 5G LTE. This development work included technical architectures, commercial model development and installation of a live Private 5G LTE network in an operating mine.

The 5G Underground Initiative leverages learnings from a 2017 project where Aqura successfully delivered Private 4G LTE in an underground mine in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia.

Aqura says it has onboarded Northern Star and OZ Minerals by providing a detailed design for both of its chosen mines.

“Having two different mines involved in the project will greatly extend the diversity of the technology architectures developed to suit more mine operation types,” it noted.

Site visits to validate terrain and existing infrastructure are currently in progress. Equipment acquisition is also underway, with works expected to commence at both sites in August 2022, Aqura said.

Nokia, Telia and Sandvik embark on world-first deployment of 5G Edge Slicing solution

Nokia has announced the world’s first deployment of 5G Edge Slicing on a live commercial network with mobile operators, Cellcom and Telia.

The latter deployment is with Sandvik in Tampere, Finland, and will demonstrate how next-generation 5G Edge Slicing functions can operate with different mining equipment and digital applications, the company said.

Nokia’s Edge Slicing solution allows operators to offer their enterprise customers next-generation, secure, reliable and high-performing Virtual Private Network (VPN) services over commercial 4G and 5G networks, it says. Once launched, both companies will be able to offer new services to their customers − driving new revenue opportunities − as well as partner with cloud application and infrastructure service providers. Nokia’s solution is available now for its global customer base.

Nokia and Cellcom’s trial with sliced RAN-Transport-Core is taking place in Netanya, Israel, and is focused on business applications and the customer experience as well as enterprise interconnectivity over a high-speed metro network.

It explained: “Nokia’s 5G Edge Slicing solution is an evolution of Nokia’s previously announced 4G/5G slicing capability. It enables operators to keep critical business data traffic local while running slice management, control and assurance on existing central mobile data centres ensuring cost and operational efficiency. It is also scalable and the same virtualised network infrastructure can be used by several customers in the same area, for example in a business campus containing multiple companies.

“Based on an enterprise customer’s needs, a 5G virtual private network can be flexibly deployed in an area with a 4G/5G base station or in a campus, city, or regional area. With Nokia, CSPs can now offer their customers both on-premise 5G Private Networks or 5G Virtual Private Networks.”

Jari Collin, CTO, Telia Finland, said: “We are delighted to be the first to deploy the first-ever 5G Edge Slicing solution together with Nokia and our important customer Sandvik, who is investing heavily in digital mining technologies and the technology environment in its test mine in Tampere. Our advanced 5G network supports our customers’ business by enabling new kinds of services and making the network more efficient. We will continue to develop innovations and the latest applications, as our mission is to bring the opportunities of 5G to our customers.”

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “Nokia was the first vendor to offer a network slicing solution and we are proud to continue this pioneering story by being the first to offer 5G Edge Slicing to our customers. These successful trials cover different use cases and customer requirements and demonstrate the possibilities of network slicing. I look forward to seeing this important new area grow and deliver opportunities to our customers in the coming year.”

A distributed and sliced 5G edge architecture creates partnering opportunities for mobile operators and Cloud Service and Infrastructure Providers, according to Nokia. High-performing virtualised networks enable service providers to bring edge cloud application platforms close to enterprise customers. Co-location and infrastructure companies’ facilities can be also used in the edge slicing deployments.

The company added: “5G Edge Slicing combined with Nokia’s new Adaptive Cloud Networking solution, which part of its scope is automating the edge cloud network, opens additional opportunities for service providers to create value for enterprises.”

Nokia’s 5G network slicing solution supports all LTE, 5G non-standalone, and 5G standalone (SA) devices, enabling mobile operators to use a huge device ecosystem and address a large customer base. This allows operators to utilise existing 4G/5G network assets, spectrum, and coverage for next-generation VPN services. Nokia’s network slicing solution is based on 3GPP, IETF, and TMForum standards and architecture and works in multi-vendor environments.

Telstra Purple adds Alliance Automation, Aqura to expanding IoT base

Telstra Purple, which brings together Telstra Enterprise’s business technology services capabilities and a number of its recently acquired companies, has announced a plan to acquire two Australia-based companies with mining exposure to bolster its IoT capabilities and accelerate its industry vertical growth ambitions.

Alliance Automation is, Telstra says, one of Australia’s largest independent providers of IoT industrial automation solutions and control systems. Founded in 2010, it is headquartered in Brisbane with several offices around Australia staffed by more than 250 engineers and consultants. It provides services in technical advisory and design, electrical and automation engineering, project management, site installation, business intelligence, operational technology cyber security and continuous support.

Aqura Technologies delivers key technology and telecommunications infrastructure solutions including industrial wireless, complete access networks, unified communications and industrial IoT. A wholly owned subsidiary of ASX-listed Veris, Aqura Technologies has more than 90 staff across Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne as well as a fly-in-fly-out workforce that services all parts of Australia.

Following the acquisitions, Telstra Purple will be able to offer professional and managed services capabilities to deliver industrial-grade wireless and fixed networks in remote and underground operations (Aqura Technologies), while expanding the potential for digital transformation services, industrial automation capabilities, digital twins, smart spaces and operational technology cyber security (Alliance Automation), it said.

These acquisitions will bolster Telstra Purple’s presence across mining, energy, oil and gas, utilities and defence projects, and increase its automation and digital transformation engagements, according to the company.

Head of Telstra Purple, Christopher Smith, said the deals were testament to Telstra Purple’s successful growth strategy.

“As our 10th and 11th acquisitions, Alliance Automation and Aqura Technologies will accelerate Telstra Purple’s growth, particularly in IoT, cloud and security, across key industry verticals, which are important building blocks of our T25 strategy,” Smith said.

“Both companies have demonstrated consistent historical growth, close customer and vendor relationships, backed up by a deep pool of specialist talent with a strong pipeline and growth outlook. We were impressed by their people, expertise and capabilities and believe they will be very valuable additions to the Telstra Purple team.”

Managing Director and CEO of Alliance Automation, Matthew Griffiths, said: “The opportunities that arise out of our complementary capabilities, but shared customer and employee centric services base will enable us to jointly provide world class digital transformation strategies to improve operational efficiencies for all our customers.

“Joining Telstra Purple will provide unparalleled value propositions for both our employees and our customers, taking Alliance Automation to the next level of technical capability and accelerating our push toward Industry 4.0 excellence for all of our customers.”

CEO of Aqura Technologies, Travis Young, said: “Our specialist capabilities, coupled with the highly complementary service offerings of the broader Telstra Purple family will deliver more powerful and compelling solutions.

“We can now more rapidly accelerate our growth to meet the significant demand of organisations who are looking to leverage next-generation connectivity as part of their broader digitisation strategies.”

Alliance Automation has the likes of Evolution Mining and Bloomfield Group on its mining project reference list, while Aqura is working with Fortescue Metals Group, BHP and Roy Hill, among others, in the mining sector. Aqura is also taking part in the government-backed 5G Innovation Initiative.