Optus now has 290 live 5G sites up and down the east coast and in Perth, and with another 1,200 sites planned in the next five months or so, Optus is pushing ahead with its 5G strategy.
Despite the number of live sites, Optus’ 5G customer numbers aren’t all that awe-inspiring. The company says it has 200 customers on the 5G Home broadband service, but that number is set to jump, with 138,000 homes in selected areas now eligible to take up the service.
Customer speeds have well exceeded expectations too, with a typical evening speed quoted at 164 Mbps (that’s a full 64 Mbps faster than the premium NBN services), and in some cases reaching 400 Mbps.
5G won’t just be at home with Optus, with the company announcing that Optus 5G will also be available ‘on the go’ through a range of 5G compatible smartphones. Mobile services are supported by three 5G capable handsets including the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and the Oppo Reno 5G.
From next year, Optus will launch 4K Ultra HD Live Football content on Optus Sport which will mean that Optus 5G Home customers can enjoy selected games from the Euro 2020 tournament, the 2020/21 Champions League and the 2020/21 Premier League in stunning 4K Ultra HD Streaming quality.
While that might not be all that exciting except for die-hard football fans, the news that Optus is also working closely with OTT Video content partners 7plus, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Fetch and Stan will be more enticing – 4K Ultra HD streaming from those popular streaming services, wirelessly, anywhere you happen to be is sure to be a big draw card.
5G in Australia is yet to reach the point where it’s truly exciting, and in this author’s opinion, we’re still lagging well behind the experience in Asia and Western Europe.
One hopes that the announcement today from Optus is just another step towards a better 5G experience for everyone here.
“5G in Australia is yet to reach the point where it’s truly exciting, and in this author’s opinion, we’re still lagging well behind the experience in Asia and Western Europe”
Don’t think it matters when it’s not a priority at this stage as well, 4G is doing fine and one of the issues people say is 5G may not work indoors which is a pretty big deal, if not deal breaker but hey lets activate that service anyway.