Telstra’s 5G coverage hits 40pc of nation as new iPhone looms
Telstra says its 5G network now covers more than 40 per cent of the Australian population as phone buyers await news of a 5G iPhone.
Telstra says its 5G network now covers more than 40 per cent of the Australian population, as phone buyers across the country await the expected announcement of a 5G iPhone this week.
Speaking to The Australian, Telstra’s executive for networks and IT, Nikos Katinakis, said the telco was set to connect 75 per cent of the population by June next year, following an investment acceleration of more than $500m.
“We’re now in more than 2000 sites across the country, and in over 60 cities and towns, and 1400 suburbs that have 50 per cent coverage or more,” Mr Katinakis said. “We’ve reversed the typical trend from previous technologies, where we would wait for the devices to show up before we deploy the network.
“Data consumption is growing at 30 to 40 per cent every year, so if we don’t do something, people are going to get a terrible experience, and they’ll complain ‘my Netflix doesn’t work’ or ‘My WhatsApp is slow’.
“And for us, it’s been super important to get community support, and to get municipality and political support, because otherwise these things just don’t happen.”
Apple is set to announce its 5G iPhone on Wednesday, and Mr Katinakis said the launch would be extremely important for Telstra given Apple has about 60 per cent market share in Australia. Analysts say the 5G iPhone could lead to a “supercycle” event of consumers upgrading en masse.
“It’s a big event for us,” Mr Katinakis said. “The excitement around more speeds and more capability is always a good motivator for people to upgrade.
“The biggest thing for the average consumer with 5G is speeds and feeds. Everything will continue to happen faster. It’s a brand new network, and you will get the best possible experience wherever you can find 5G.
“It gets also interesting in the enterprise market; enterprises are a lot more active and a lot more interested in 5G than ever before.
“So besides the speeds and feeds, it has a lot more capabilities that enterprises can take advantage of, which is an interesting dynamic as well.”
Telstra last month launched a 5G home internet product, but Mr Katinakis said the telco was not positioning it as an alternative or a rival to the NBN.
He said mobile subscribers typically used between 15 and 20 gigabytes of data a month, compared with home users who consumed between 250 and 300 gigabytes a month.
“It’s just no comparison,” he said. “If you have fibre to the home, if you have a good speed, that’s a great service and it’s done.
“What we’re positioning our fixed wireless product is for this very targeted segment of the population where they’re not getting a good enough experience through the NBN, not by choice. It’s for customers where the technology available to them just doesn’t allow it.”
Optus and TPG/Vodafone have recently poured investment into their 5G networks, but Mr Katinakis said Telstra wasn’t concerned by the competition.
“We’re a long way ahead of our competitors because we’re investing more, we’ve got the technology leadership and we want to extend that lead because Australia needs 5G.”
More Coverage
Is Helfie AI really Australia’s newest tech unicorn?
The firm says its AI technology can test for health issues including Covid and cancer via a phone app. It also says it’s worth more than $1bn. But questions about the valuation remain unanswered.
Office orders spark new war in the workplace
The work from home era is drawing to a close for many businesses, including Amazon and Tabcorp, but others are really just getting started, saying flexibility makes staff healthier.