Australia’s most significant resources project is set to be hooked up to 5G with Veris (ASX: VRS) winning the $2 million contract to design a tech solution that will connect Fortescue’s enormous magnetite project to the rest of the world. 

The contract was awarded to wholly owned Veris subsidiary, Aqura Technologies which is carving out a strong business supplying LTE equipment to the resources sector, enabling high-speed internet access to some of the world’s most remote locations. 

“This contract award is a great validation of the strategy the Aqura team are pursuing to leverage their expertise to enable other organisations to achieve positive business outcomes with leading edge technology,” said Aqura Technologies CEO, Travis Young. 

“Aqura continues to lead in high-performance industrial connectivity with advanced engagements for new rollouts, and other developments such as the imminent completion of our first 5G-enabled LTE network to bring the benefits of private LTE to a broader spectrum of businesses.” 

The $2.6 billion Iron Bridge project is a joint venture between Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) and Formosa Steel IB which is forecast to deliver 22 million tonnes of high grade (67%) iron magnetite concentrate annually with shipments expected to commence mid-2022. 

Aqura is the communications infrastructure division of Veris, their other being surveying and planning, which have been delivering LTE networks since 2016. 

With the COVID pandemic having heightened the need for live connectivity across remote sites in the resources sector, Aqura has performed well over the past 12 months having delivered 32% revenue growth in FY20 to offset Veris’ wider 12% decline across the Company. 

Since the release of those FY20 results, Veris has quickly returned to profitability having reported $26.2m revenue for the quarter ending 30 September 2020 and $1.05m profit before tax (unaudited). 

The Company has flagged further benefit in the post-COVID world with a strong pipeline of projects and exposure to recovery programs as government sponsored infrastructure expenditure commence.