Australia’s Optus is turbo-charging 5G roll-out

Australian operator Optus has announced details of its 5G Home Broadband service which is underpinned by a plan to deliver 1,200 5G sites by March 2020. In partnership with Nokia, which is supplying the 5G RAN and Fastmile 5G CPEs, Optus 5G sites are now live in two suburbs in Canberra, with an additional site live in Sydney and 47 more sites planned to be online by March 2019.

Optus will enable select customers to be part of the first wave of Optus 5G Home Broadband through an Expressions of Interest campaign in selected areas. Optus 5G Home Broadband will offer unlimited data for AUD 70 per month with a 50Mbps Satisfaction Guarantee.

“We will have more 5G sites going live across Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Sydney over the coming months giving a select group of customers the chance to get their hands on our 5G Home Broadband devices in areas of selected suburbs. We will open the service up to more customers and more locations as more devices are released and our 5G cells continue to roll-out”, said Optus CEO Allen Lew.

Optus plans to deliver 5G sites across the ACT, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia by March 2020.

“We currently have three live in-network 5G cells, but we will be turbo-charging our roll-out over the next 12 months to deliver 5G cells on the Optus Mobile Network across Australia with the goal of putting this exciting technology into the hands of our customers as soon as possible”, Lew also said.

Optus’ multi-year 5G network build would include upgrading and adding new mobile sites while densifying the network with small cell services to increase capacity and speed in highly populated inner-city locations. The 1,200 sites will include residential locations and other key customer hotspots surrounding airports, train stations, sports stadiums and CBD locations.

Optus has opened expressions of interest today allowing customers to register their interest in selected suburbs to be amongst the first to experience 5G in Australia. Customers should visit the Optus website and enter their suburb to check eligibility for the first phase of Optus 5G Home Broadband. Initial 5G coverage will be for limited areas within the suburb however Optus will confirm serviceability with these customers. Customers will be selected based on 5G serviceability at their address. Initial services are expected to be delivered in the second quarter of this year.