Microsoft’s latest Azure update has managed to cover two of its more recent trends with the announcement of new regions for Australia and New Zealand.

The company has already this month focused on expanding its geographic footprint, as well as beefing up its government cloud options. With the new regions, Microsoft says it is the only global cloud provider to deliver services ‘specifically designed to address the requirements of the Australian and New Zealand governments and critical national infrastructure, including banks, utilities, transport and telecommunications.’

Microsoft offers Azure from three cities in Australia – Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra – with connectivity to Perth, Brisbane and Auckland. The latest development is in partnership with Canberra Data Centres, whereby customers can deploy their own applications and infrastructure hosted on the Canberra data centre, directly connected via Azure ExpressRoute to Microsoft’s network, or in the case of federal government, through their Intra Government Communications Network (ICON).

The move now gives Microsoft four regions in the continent, with the two new Australia Central regions alongside East and Southeast. For comparison, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has three availability zones in its Sydney region, with Microsoft pointing out it is the only major provider to offer availability from more than one city.

“Around the world, government and critical national infrastructure providers are transforming operations and the services they deliver to citizens and customers,” wrote Tom Keane, Azure head of global infrastructure in a blog post. “They are rapidly modernising their business and mission-critical applications through the flexibility, scale and reach of Azure, partnering with our unmatched partner ecosystem, and placing their trust in us to create a resilient and responsive platform for growth.”

With the latest additions, Microsoft now has 50 regions worldwide in 140 countries.