Optus has inked a major deal, apparently ousting Telstra, to provide infrastructure and managed services supporting as many as 11,000 users at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, which open in just over a year from now.

The deal also includes sponsorship of the Australian Commonwealth Games team, which Oppy says will include a range of benefits, including event branding and “activation opportunities”, whatever they might be, throughout the games.

On the technical side, Optus will deliver high-speed telecommunications infrastructure to more than 30 Games venues, as well as the design and implementation of a games network to provide connections for broadcasting, telephony, Internet and cloud services across all Games venues, which include Cairns, Townsville and Brisbane, as well as the Gold Coast.

How much Optus is paying for the deal has not been disclosed, but you can safely bet it’s a motza.

Meanwhile Telstra is also looking for some Games business. The No. 1 telco is reportedly looking to use the games to test its 5G wireless capabilities in partnership with Ericsson.

The games will run from April 4 to 15 next year.