{"id":51393,"date":"2025-10-13T10:48:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/?p=51393"},"modified":"2026-08-18T16:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T15:10:17","slug":"quantum-meets-connectivity-telstra-and-sqc-explore-smarter-network-prediction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/2025\/10\/13\/quantum-meets-connectivity-telstra-and-sqc-explore-smarter-network-prediction\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum meets connectivity: Telstra and SQC explore smarter network prediction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Telstra and Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC) have unveiled results from a joint initiative taking quantum computing out of the lab and into telecommunications, marking a milestone in Australia\u2019s Digital Transformation journey.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telstra and Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC) have released results from a joint initiative taking quantum computing out of the lab and into the telecommunications industry \u2013 marking a new milestone in Australia\u2019s journey towards quantum-enabled digital infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 12 months a Telstra-SQC team explored how quantum machine learning could enhance Telstra\u2019s response to a complex challenge in connectivity: predictive analytics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advances in predictive network analytics have the potential to reshape customer experiences, from pre-empting and resolving network issues to powering personalised services like dynamic bandwidth upgrades responding to real-time demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Telstra uses a combination of machine learning and AI to help predict network performance and detect changes in network patterns. These systems analyse metrics like latency and bandwidth to predict potential variances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This enables Telstra to proactively monitor and reconfigure network resources, deploy technicians or initiate automated responses \u2013 often before customers are impacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SQC\u2019s quantum experts and Telstra engineers tested and evaluated SQC\u2019s quantum-enhanced machine learning system called Watermelon, a quantum reservoir that generates quantum features that can be used in an AI model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal was twofold \u2013 first, to assess if features generated by the quantum reservoir could be used to forecast network metrics, and second, to compare the performance against a recently developed deep learning model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results were significant. Training and fine-tuning the quantum reservoir took just days, delivering accuracy on par with a deep learning model that required weeks of effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put simply, the quantum-enhanced model matched the performance of Telstra\u2019s current model \u2013 but was trained much faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reservoir also operated efficiently without the GPU hardware demands of the deep learning model. As cutting-edge AI can be resource intensive, technologies that reduce its cost are increasingly valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shailin Sehgal, Telstra’s Group Executive of Global Networks and Technology, said that combining Telstra\u2019s experience in managing complex connectivity with SQC\u2019s world-class quantum systems proved that pairing deep domain knowledge with cutting-edge engineering can lead to innovation with potential real-world customer impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re constantly looking ahead to technologies that can help us create smarter connectivity experiences for our customers \u2013 from increased personalisation to issue prevention. Quantum computing is a promising frontier we\u2019re exploring. Working with SQC allows us to research the real-world potential of quantum systems in a uniquely Australian context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis trial shows how quantum capabilities could complement our existing systems and technology to deliver faster insights and better outcomes for our customers. The collaboration, and Telstra\u2019s relationship with SQC, shows how Australian industries and homegrown innovation can work together to shape the nation\u2019s digital future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michelle Simmons, CEO, Silicon Quantum Computing, said the results were a glimpse into the future, from quicker insights leading to real-world customer outcomes and reduced computational overhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an exciting and important step forward in commercial adoption of quantum technologies. The collaboration with Telstra allowed us to test our quantum reservoir system, Watermelon, in a real-world telecommunications context \u2013 something few quantum companies have achieved. Watermelon\u2019s quantum feature generation helps to reveal complex relationships within classical data while dramatically reducing training time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always believed that the key to unlocking quantum\u2019s full potential lies in building systems with atomic precision and purity. This partnership shows how quantum processors have moved beyond theory and into practical, scalable solutions that enhance Australia\u2019s digital infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program lays the foundation for broader investigation of quantum technology in digital infrastructure and real-world industry applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quantum reservoirs use the natural dynamics and complex internal structure of quantum systems \u2013 like qubits in superposition \u2013 to process information. This gives them memory and nonlinear capabilities that are well-suited to time series forecasting, often used in deep learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike traditional deep learning, which relies on progressive statistical learning and universal approximation, quantum reservoirs operate based on internal quantum dynamics. This often makes them more resilient to noisy or sparse data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quantum reservoirs are promising for large-scale, decoupled systems with many inputs at different scales and recurring patterns. They\u2019re being explored for tasks such as capacity planning, dynamic workload placement and assurance functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC) is at the forefront of global efforts to build a commercial-scale quantum computer. It is the world\u2019s first atomic precision manufacturer and builds quantum chips in silicon with the world\u2019s highest-quality qubits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SQC\u2019s breakthroughs include creating the world\u2019s first integrated quantum circuit at the atomic scale and realising the highest efficiency operation of one of the key database search algorithms: Grover\u2019s, at 98.87% of the theoretical maximum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Telstra and Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC) have unveiled results from a joint initiative taking quantum computing out of the lab and into telecommunications, marking a milestone in Australia\u2019s Digital Transformation journey. Telstra and Silicon Quantum Computing (SQC) have released results from a joint initiative taking quantum computing out of the lab and into the telecommunications […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":51394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7027,15,55,7219,53,8983,42,44,54],"tags":[852,76,1146,192,9873,6457,2392,9875,9876,9874,151,125],"class_list":["post-51393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-intelligent-technologies-ai","category-digital-transformation","category-oceania","category-quantum","category-regional-news-newsletter","category-c-suite-technology","category-industry-verticals-telecom","category-top-stories","category-used","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-australia","tag-connectivity","tag-digital-transformation","tag-network-analytics","tag-predictive-analytics","tag-quantum-computing","tag-quantum-machine-learning","tag-silicon-quantum-computing","tag-sqc","tag-telecommunications","tag-telstra"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51951,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51393\/revisions\/51951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}