Optus trials superfast 5G tech

Optus is conducting tests of the ultrafast form of 5G that will radically improve cellular coverage at stadiums, airports and crowded city locations.

Optus’s first implementation of mmWave in Melbourne is a hybrid set-up, where 5G mmWave beams down to a modem at the Oakleigh Indoor Sports & Inflatable World, above, in Huntingdale in Melbourne’s southeast.

Optus is conducting tests of the ultrafast form of 5G that will radically improve cellular coverage at stadiums, airports and crowded city locations.

While 5G is becoming established in Australia, a faster form of it known as millimetre wave or mmWave has barely got a toehold. Telstra, Optus and others have obtained mmWave spectrum through auctions but the tech is in its infancy.

mmWave is blazingly fast, but has a shorter range than standard 5G, is less robust and needs more cell towers. Only one phone, Google’s Pixel 6 Plus, supports mmWave 5G so far.

Optus’s first implementation of mmWave in Melbourne is a hybrid set-up, where 5G mmWave beams down to a modem at the Oakleigh Indoor Sports & Inflatable World in Huntingdale in Melbourne’s southeast.

It’s a fixed wireless connection offering what Optus calls 5G Max.

Optus says the connection has achieved 2.5 gigabits per second download speed, which is 25 times the speed of the fast 100 megabit per second download speeds offered as a premium connection to households by NBN.

The signal is made available as Wi-Fi to those in the Oakleigh centre for their own use and for the centre to stream live content on screens across the facility in real time. The initial trial is over three months.

Oakleigh Indoor Sports at Huntingdale Melbourne is seeing initial average download speeds of 2.5Gbps with millimetre wave 5G.

Owner of the centre Zac Kimmel said the extra capacity and high speed had been “a game changer”.

“It means we can have everyone connected to our Wi-Fi without compromising on speed and connectivity.

“We get hundreds of visitors to the venue across the weekends so the extra capacity and high speed that this solution is providing our customers has been a real game changer.”

Mr Kimmel said the centre was investigating opportunities to automate different aspects of its business with the increased bandwidth.

“It currently takes hours to upload all the sports matches to our content site for teams to view post-match and with mmWave this can be done in minutes.”

Managing Director Optus Marketing and Revenue Matt Williams said mmWave was a “transformational technology” that would find its way into homes and businesses and offer more connectivity options.

mmWave is expected to offer stadiums e-commerce opportunities where spectators can order food, drink and souvenirs from their phones and where stadiums and clubs can stream content without congestion issues.

Mr Williams said the trial was an Australian first.

He added that the technology would help businesses accelerate digital transformation.

Optus plans to extend the mmWave trial to invited customers in Sydney over coming weeks.

Originally published as Optus trials superfast 5G tech