The 5G revolution is officially here, and one part of Australia is getting it first. Now if only there was a phone that could connect.
The mobile world is fast, but it’s about to get even faster, as the next stage of mobile evolution arrives.
After testing for the past few months in parts of Queensland, Telstra has flipped the switch on 5G and turned on what will be the next speed and bandwidth development for the mobile world.
Expected next year, Telstra has turned on 5G access in Australia, supporting it first on the Gold Coast, as it begins to roll out 5G technology across the country.
“Today’s switch on demonstrates Telstra’s commitment to mobile leadership in Australia and will support the ongoing testing of next generation mobile technologies in Australian conditions to support the early commercial deployment of 5G mobile services,” said Andrew Penn, CEO of Telstra.
The technology is the first step in delivering speeds able to venture beyond the 2Gbps mark, achieving more bandwidth and speed not just for Australian mobile users, but for applications where speed is a necessity.
As the world becomes more wirelessly connected, support for wider and faster access to a mobile internet will be bolstered by 4G and 5G working together, and it’s something telcos are investing in heavily.
We’ve already seen Vodafone is putting its time in implementing the tech, and Telstra has said this week that its rollout of 5G is underpinned by around $5 billion of network investment leading up to June 2019, where more 5G support is expected around the country.
In fact, while Queensland’s Gold Coast is the first place to see 5G, Telstra expects more than 200 5G-capable sites to be live by the end of this year.
“Over the coming months, we will continue expanding our 5G coverage with plans to roll out to more capital cities, regional centres and other high demand areas,” said Penn.
While the rollout of a 5G network is crucial in high-speed mobile development, there’s a neat catch: there is no available phone that will connect to a 5G network available in Australia yet, nor is there an available dedicated wireless broadband modem.
However, given that this is the first step, we’d say the hardware needed to make both a reality isn’t far away, and it won’t be long until devices you use will be connected to this super fast 5G world.
