It can take time for consumers to embrace new technologies. In the field of mobile connectivity, 4G LTE has been around since 2010 when it became the standard for wireless data transmission that made streaming movies and music a reality. The move from 3G to 4G not only required a step-change in wireless technology and bandwidth, but the rise of on-demand services to persuade consumers that they needed 4G. Now that 5G is here, what will it take to make consumers embrace the next generation of super-fast cellular networks?
Delivering next-generation connectivity
Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications company, is leveraging mmWave to deliver the next generation of connected services and experiences. Compared with mid-spectrum wireless technology, mmWave has the clear advantage of affording 5G networks the capacity to deliver data faster, more efficiently and more reliably, especially in busy environments such as public transport hubs and sports venues.
Where mmWave is already available in the US, Japan and South Korea, the technology has demonstrated that it can offer users a more seamless internet experience when it comes to data- and bandwidth-hungry experiences such as cloud-based gaming and streaming high-definition video and real-time mobile access, as well as virtual and augmented reality.
The leading player in mmWave technology in Australia, Telstra launched its first mmWave handset last year and has been committed to building its mmWave-enabled 5G offering since 2017, when the company started conducting trials with the technology.
The results? In areas with 5G mmWave, Telstra customers with compatible devices can expect typical download speeds of between 500Mbps and 2.5Gbps, and upload speeds of between 5Mbps–50Mbps. In areas covered by mid-band 5G coverage areas, typical speeds fall to between 10Mbps and 1Gbps for downloads and 1Mbps to 40Mbps for uploads.
For Iskra Nikolova, Network and Infrastructure Executive at Telstra, investment in mmWave is a game-changer. “We’ve innovated in terms of extending mmWave coverage with repeaters [signal-extenders] which allow us to think about its use outside special locations where we have a large aggregation of people. We’ve employed mmWave cells in the Central Business Districts of Melbourne and Sydney, for example, with the aim of providing continuous coverage and very high-speed areas.”
Finding the right arena
For Australians who are still looking for a compelling reason to embrace mmWave or even 5G, the example provided by a much-loved national sporting icon may provide a compelling argument. According to Nikolova, mmWave has “transformed” sports’ fans experience of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, one of the greatest sporting arenas in the southern hemisphere. At the AFL 2022 Grand Final in the 100,000-seater stadium, Australian rules football fans were able to enjoy average download speeds of 2.4GB per second in the packed arena when using mmWave.
“With mmWave in the stadium, we’re seeing a significantly bigger payload: people are using data, they’re experiencing the football games differently, they’re able to share with their friends and family by posting those experiences in real time,” she explains. “And at these gigabit speeds, this is faster than any broadband you can get in Australia at home. We’re just in the range of megabits, right? So this is the great story around millimetre wave: it can transform the user experience.”
Sports fans are not the only ones who might be encouraged to chant mmWave. The technology also has the potential to revolutionise mobile phone use, which is why Telstra invested A$277mn in 1000MHz of 26GHz spectrum for mmWave 5G to “supercharge” its 5G network.
Today Telstra delivers 5G mmWave enabled connectivity around the Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay and Darling Harbour in Sydney, and at the Docklands precinct and Flinders Lane in Melbourne, alongside more than 210 sites across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, and with plans to develop more over the next few years.
“For the first time ever, you can achieve ultra-high speeds on a compatible mobile device,” says Nikolova. “It absolutely liberates the way you work.”
In recent years, 5G mmWave technology has also been deployed and proven commercially successful in some European countries, where it has demonstrated its transformative potential, but telecommunication and tech companies in European countries are still some ways behind their US, South Korean and Australian counterparts, especially when it comes to investment and adoption.
Major players in the mmWave space such as Telstra are not only blazing a trail at the forefront of super-fast 5G investment and deployment, but may also provide the use cases that will remove the remaining barriers to a faster, more interactive mmWave-enhanced future.
