Telstra pushing 5G into regional and rural Australian communities

Telstra is expanding its 5G network into regional and rural Australian communities, as it reaches the milestone of 75 percent of Australians having access to 5G.

In the first half of 2021, Telstra has switched on 5G services in more than 100 regional towns and cities as it extends its 5G network reach.

New regional communities with 5G access now include Echuca-Moama spanning the Victoria-NSW border, Castlemaine in Victoria, Yass in NSW, Port Douglas in Queensland, Murray Bridge in SA, Devonport in Tasmania, and Esperance in WA.

"After starting our initial 5G rollout across major cities, a big effort has been made to extend this out to our suburbs, regional centres and rural areas. You can now find Telstra 5G presence in more than 2,700 suburbs and over 200 cities and towns across Australia.

Nikos Katinakis, Telstra Group Executive, Networks & IT

Australian geography presents challenges for 5G network rollout

Australia’s geography and demography presents challenges to all network providers, but Telstra has committed to meeting those challenges and bringing 5G technology to all its customers says Nikos Katinakis, Telstra Group Executive, Networks & IT.

"Reaching more Australians will be harder from here, with populations spread out over larger distances, with each incremental percentage of the population requiring proportionally more 5G sites to cover – so some areas might take a bit longer than others before the 5G symbol pops up the top of your phone."

World record long distance 5G call will help the bush

Telstra is working hard to introduce the type of innovation that is needed to deliver 5G to all its customers nationwide.

He can point to an announcement this week that Telstra and Ericsson have achieved a world record long distance 5G data call. The test utilised Ericsson Radio software and Telstra's standalone 5G network and spanned 113kms from a single mobile tower in Gippsland, Victoria.

"This achievement is one instance of Telstra’s drive to innovate for the good of all of its clients, notably those in regional areas... and it’s that innovation, in partnership with Ericsson, that places Telstra in a leadership position globally when it comes to 5G.”

Emilio Romeo, head of Ericsson, Australia and New Zealand, said the long distance call gives Telstra another coverage capability option.

“This new world record of an extended 5G cell range of 113 km is a huge win for rural and regional Australia giving Telstra another coverage capability option. Whether it’s enabling remote learning, especially during times of lockdown, or even facilitating remote telehealth over 5G and more such applications, this announcement today demonstrates both Telstra and Ericsson’s dedication to empowering everyday Australians with faster speeds, greater convenience and superior connectivity.”

Carrier aggregation another important innovation for regional Australia

Telstra is also pursuing carrier aggregation technology to enhance 5G coverage nationwide, says Nikos Katinakis.

"When it comes to 5G, while we’ve been rolling it out across Australia, we’ve also been innovating and deploying new technologies to offer a better and even more reliable service to our customers.

"One new addition is a technology called carrier aggregation. We’ve used this on 4G for a while and helped boost connectivity dramatically for customers as we worked on it more and more. It essentially involves enabling devices to access our network using multiple radio frequencies.

"Think of it like you’re trying to heat a room. You start with a single heater, but it’s too cold still, so you add another heater to get the room up to temperature. Combining multiple frequencies to work together, just like the heaters warming the room faster, gives you greater network performance than connecting to the single frequency.

"For the first time, we’re adding this out to 5G too. By combining Telstra 5G on low band 850Mhz spectrum and mid-band 3600Mhz 5G, you should see a boost in 5G performance when you’re indoors or on the edge of 5G coverage."

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