I remember only 2 years ago the tech experts on HC said the NBN was safe from 5G because it would only travel short distances.

Telstra confident of rural 5G coverage

A Telstra 5G base station.

• Chris Griffith

  Technology Reporter

  @chris_griffith

  
• 2:49PM June 28, 2021
• 11 Comments

Telstra says it has set a global record by transferring 5G data between two locations 113 kilometres apart. The achievement gives Telstra more confidence it can cover regional and remote areas with 5G as it continues its rollout.

5G has a shorter range than 4G which means more connection points and repeater stations are needed to propagate a 5G signal. Improvements to equipment and a longer range might reduce the severity of the task.

Overall Telstra says it has achieved 75 per cent coverage of the population on its 5G network. 5G covered more than 2700 suburbs, and more than 200 cities and towns. More than 3700 5G sites had been installed, and more than 1.5 million 5G devices were on its network.

Currently, 99.5 per cent of the population had access to 4G, and 99.5 per cent to 3G.

Remaining 3G sites were being upgraded to 4G as 3G closes down in 2024.

Telstra’s lower and medium band spectrum were being combined.“ This allows you not only to get a better signal indoors, it also allows you to spend less battery, and obviously a much better performance overall,” said Telstra group head, networks & IT Nikos Katinakis.

Telstra made several announcements about its rollout and its expanded partnership with Ericsson.

That included details of how it will use 1000MHz millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum it acquired for $277 million from the government’s spectrum auction in April.

One use is to bolster the quality of its existing 5G offering and another is to offer a lifeline to those with a poor or non-existent NBN connection.

Mr Katinakis said the company was already installing mmWave small cells and repeaters in densely populated areas to boost hot spots in cities and towns. “We also get the ability to start serving customers with fixed wireless in the neighbourhoods where they can’t get a super good service from our NBN network.”