Telstra showcases Gigabit mobile services
Telstra has offered a taste of the 5G future in a preview of its Telstra Nighthawk M1 technology late last month.
Launching the new technology, in conjunction with its partners Qualcomm, Netgear and Ericsson, Telstra said hotspots offering Gigabit class download speeds on mobile devices would soon be available in hotspots in and around capital city CBDs, beginning this month.
According to Telstra, the Nighthawk M1 router, together with the enhanced 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) capability Telstra has achieved through spectrum aggregation techniques, will provide a stepping stone to full 5G services.
5G services are still not expected to come on stream commercially until the end of the decade.
Telstra claims that with the Nighthawk M1, customers can:
- Download a typical 3.5MB song in a fraction of a second
- Download a 20MB PowerPoint presentation in as little as one second
- Download a 300MB one hour TV episode in as little as sixteen seconds
- Download a 3GB HD Movie in as little as 3 minutes.
According to the industry press, when Telstra’s Group Managing Director Networks, Mike Wright, demonstrated the technology at the launch, he ran three live speed tests, achieving a “staggering” peak speed of 895Mbps download and 97Mbps upload.
“It’s the largest ever step increase in mobile download speed,” he said “and the first time we’ve done a big step increase on the uplink” to a theoretical maximum 150Mbps for uploads.
Of course, real speeds achieved by customers as services becomes available will depend on the usual factors that affect mobile speeds such as the size of cells and the number of users. And at present, only a limited sections of the Telstra 4G network have been upgraded to support Gigabit LTE.
All the same, this is a world first and a confirmation of Telstra’s ability to stay at the forefront of global technology and service innovation. Right now, wireless is where the action is and Telstra’s deal with the Commonwealth to retire/transfer its copper network in return for a handsome revenue stream that can be invested in alternative platforms is looking better – at least for the company - every day.
E-bulletin readers interested in further details of the launch can read a report at https://www.bit.com.au/Guide/449866,how-fast-is-telstra8217s-gigabit-mobile-network-really.aspx.
Source: BIT, Telstra Exchange.
