Telstra 5G now covers more than 50% of Australian population

Telstra has made a major announcement this morning, confirming that its next generation 5G network now covers more than 50% of the Australian population.

Not content with that, there’s more to come – Telstra is aiming to raise that figure to 75% by the middle of 2021, just a few months away.

Telstra’s Network Technology Development & Solutions Executive Channa Seneviratne said the milestone marked another huge step forward for the network roll out and showed Telstra was on track to hit its target to expand coverage to 75 per cent of the population by the middle of the year.

“Our customers have told us coverage is the most important thing when it comes to 5G so Telstra’s 5G roll out reaching more than half of the Australian population is a huge milestone,” Mr Seneviratne said.

“Bringing Telstra 5G coverage to more people means they can get more out of their 5G device and really experience what 5G has to offer.”

What do customers get with 5G? Well, beyond “faster internets!”, 5G promises greater network capacity as well, and – as with most talk around 5G – promises of things that haven’t actually been thought of yet.

Telstra has confirmed it has around 750,000 5G capable devices on its network at the moment, and that number is growing steadily each week.

Those users are connecting to 2,650 Telstra 5G sites around Australia, with coverage in more than 100 cities, towns and 2,000 suburbs across Australia.

As an added bonus for sports fans, Telstra is putting its 5G technology into select venues, including a deal with the AFL which will see AFL-owned Marvel Stadium receive network and technology infrastructure upgrades including installing 5G connectivity, with the ambition of making it one of the world’s most advanced stadium and entertainment precincts. Telstra technology and connectivity will be deployed over the next few years including fixed and 4G/5G networks upgrades, AI, mixed reality and edge computing.