Endeavour Energy, together with Optus, Amazon Web Services, and Unleash live, has deployed its first 5G and AI-enabled drones to improve restoration times for unplanned electricity outages, particularly during natural disasters such as storms, floods, and bushfires.

As part of the first demonstration, Endeavour Energy flew the drones over physical electricity infrastructure located in Sydney's western suburb of St Marys. During the flyover, footage of damaged assets was streamed in real-time using 5G to Endeavour Energy's training ground in Hoxton Park.

With the demonstration a success, according to Optus, Endeavour Energy will now deploy the solution across infrastructure assets in Penrith and Blacktown, which would remove the need to use a large fleet of vehicles, helicopters, and technicians to physically identify and carry out remediation.

"We're thrilled to work with Optus, AWS, and Unleash live, with the support of the Australian government to expedite the use of 5G drone technology to make faster decisions and expedite critical maintenance to continue to keep the lights on for our customers," Endeavour Energy chief asset and operating officer Scott Ryan said.

"We are committed to being at the forefront of the current energy transformation by embracing digital innovation."

Project Endeavour was funded as part of the federal government's 5G innovation initiative, which was established to support private sector investment in 5G testbeds and trials.

Endeavour Energy's electricity network includes more than 60,000km of powerlines, 400,000 power poles and 32,000 substations across Sydney's Greater West, the Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, the Illawarra, and the South Coast of New South Wales.

Meanwhile, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) gave TPG Telecom's functional separation plans the green light on Friday.

Under the plans, TPG plans to divide its wholesale and retail operations. This would apply to TPG's existing FttB and TransACT networks, as well as any new superfast local access lines deployed by TPG.

"Acceptance of the undertaking provides TPG with greater flexibility to expand its fixed line network footprint and to compete in wholesale and retail markets. This supports our pro-competitive strategy for continued growth in the Australian market," TPG wholesale, enterprise and government group executive Jonathan Rutherford said.

"This is a positive result for TPG and provides much needed regulatory certainty to enable further investment into our network."

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