Australia’s first new city to be built in 100 years, Bradfield City sits on the doorstep of the new Western Sydney International Airport (WSI), in the heart of the 11,200 hectare Western Sydney Aerotropolis. Bradfield’s public and digital infrastructure, including lighting, is set to be amongst the smartest in the country.
The Bradfield Development Authority (BDA), a NSW Government agency responsible for delivering the 114-hectare Bradfield City, recently announced a partnership with Australian telecommunications company and internet service provider Superloop to deliver a range of critical infrastructure services. This includes managing public lighting across Bradfield for a period of 20 years, laying the foundation for a highly connected, future-ready precinct as Bradfield evolves into a city with 10,000 homes, 20,000 jobs, and a centre of advanced industries.
The long-term commercial partnership the BDA signed with Superloop is relatively unique for Australia but has a solid foundation in similar arrangements overseas. The agreement contains robust service levels across the range of technologies and services to be deployed.
In addition to operating pit and pipe infrastructure, Superloop and its partner, OneWiFi, will operate the first 101 Multi-Function Poles (MFPs) to help create a vibrant and safe city for future residents, workers and visitors. The MFPs help consolidate a range of infrastructure including hosting public lighting, signage, banners, telecommunications equipment, CCTV, bike charging and environmental sensors.
Bradfield’s lighting portfolio is expected to grow significantly as subsequent phases of the new city are developed, including the first private land release – a 4.8 hectare mixed-used commercial and residential lot called Superlot 1. These subsequent phases are expected to also be managed under the agreement with Superloop.
The technology that will be deployed on the MFPs includes lighting, Wi-Fi, and banners, with the MFPs directly managed by Superloop and OneWiFi. These features will enhance digital accessibility and convenience for users, with free public Wi-Fi and improved mobile reception ensuring high-speed connectivity for everyone at Bradfield.
Superloop and OneWiFi will also manage access for third parties seeking to leverage the MFPs on a non-discriminatory basis for other use cases approved by BDA. This is likely to involve the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure as well as devices like CCTV and environmental sensors.
The street lighting in Bradfield will consist of modern LEDs with smart controls that will automatically download information about each lighting asset, provide a GPS location, allow any excess lighting to be trimmed, enable dimming of lighting in off-peak periods, report on energy consumption, and provide automatic reporting of faults. Energy efficient lighting and technology is an essential component to Bradfield’s development as a city with ambitious sustainability and net zero targets.
The lights will be equipped with an additional sensor port, called a Zhaga interface, that is able to host future smart city sensors. The Zhaga Consortium is an international industry standards body that has developed a common interface that is somewhat like a USB for the outdoor environment. Zhaga-based sensors are inexpensive to deploy and future sensors for Bradfield City could include those that measure traffic, climate, pollutants and noise levels.
Supporting the new MFPs are multiple power and fibre connections to each pole. There is sufficient capacity for even the most data-hungry applications such as small cells for telecommunications, and an extensive free public Wi-Fi network.
As of July 2025, all 101 MFPs have been deployed along the streetscapes of Bradfield’s newly built roads.
