At the launch of their 5G network yesterday, Optus CEO Allen Lew has told the AFR that his company hopes to gain customers for Optus 5G Home Broadband in areas of Australia where the NBN is “sub-optimal” and speeds are below 50mbit, “that’s where we will be able to offer 50 megabits per second, and that will be able to provide a better option for these customers”.
Mr Lew also told the AFR that Optus would be able to get better margins out of this product than it can out of reselling NBN plans, even though the government’s ban on Huawei equipment from 5G networks has made the construction costs higher than they would otherwise have been because Optus had to use Nokia instead.
We needed to make sure we give our shareholders a proper return for the capital invested, and we were able to achieve our target price [of $70 a month] even without Huawei equipment.
Mr Lew did temper this, saying that their tender process in place allowing vendors to bid on supply of network infrastructure will allow them to remain competitive.
An NBN Spokesperson responded to Mr Lew stating: “We have long stated we believe the NBN access network and 5G will be complementary technologies in the future. Mobile operators continue to acknowledge the NBN access network will serve the vast majority of the market for broadband and will play a critical role in meeting consumer needs for high-speed data.”
While Optus was keen to point out their 50Mbps guarantee for the 5G network, Gizmodo pointed out yesterday that this wasn’t a minimum speed, rather an opt out option for customers in the form of a ‘*50Mbps Satisfaction Guarantee’ with the Optus website stating
If at any time you are not satisfied that you are getting download speeds of at least 50Mbps, simply get in touch and we will let you cancel your contract without cancellation fees when you return your 5G device to us.
Telstra and Vodafone are lagging behind Optus which announced yesterday that $70 unlimited 5G Home Broadband would be available at 1,200 sites in their first wave across Australia.
Optus has the advantage of owning more 5G spectrum (100Mhz) than Telstra and Vodafone (60Mhz each) in the key markets of Sydney and Melbourne due to it’s acquisition of VividWireless earlier this decade.
Ausdroid aims to review Optus 5G Home Broadband in a real life home environemnt as soon as we can.
Ha, you jokers talking about great 5G speeds and improving on where NBN left off but the fact is people are getting left behind in country areas. I’m based in Mullion Creek and I’m lucky to get 6mb down/ 300k up on a good day using ADSL1. Speeds are more often than not unreliable with future improvements looking unlikely. I am actually less than 1km from the nearest exchange but Telstra/Optus or whoever else you want to throw in the mix are unwilling to improve areas in our community and the end result is families and businesses being left behind… Read more »
Is Mullion Creek covered by the NBN Skymuster satellite?
Indeed. My house is 900+m from the node and we max out at 35 MB/s on a really good day. Unfortunately, mobile reception at home is pretty patchy as well, from all of the networks, so that’s no help either!