Optus has launched a new 5G mobile wholesale product for it’s mobile reseller partners to opt in to buying.
This continues it’s commendable practice of allowing wholesale partners to access the entire Optus network including faster features. In comparison historically Telstra has only enabled faster network features for resellers after quite a delay.
Optus is the first mobile network operator in Australia to offer 5G mobile service access to its wholesale partners, after being the first to deliver 5G Home Broadband to the wholesale market in July 2020.
Don’t get too excited though because as you can see by the coverage maps Optus 5G (purple dots) it’s only available in quite populated areas and even in those quite patchily.
Obviously the network will grow over time so thumbs up to Optus for making their 5G network available to MVNO partners as this will enable a wider variety of more affordable 5G plans to choose from.
Ben White, Optus Managing Director, Wholesale, Satellite and Strategy said:
“We’re excited to bring Optus’ 5G network to our wholesale partners from today. With superfast speeds, 5G delivers a fantastic experience that opens a whole new world of opportunity for our wholesale partners,”
“We’re committed to bringing new services and additional value to the market that elevates the experience for our wholesale partners’ customers. This offer provides our partners with choice and further flexibility to innovate, grow their mobile operations and enable new products, while leveraging Optus’ 4G and 5G network capabilities.”
Optus currently has more than 900 5G sites switched on and is rolling out in selected areas. 5G is not yet available in TAS or NT. Customers with a 5G capable phone will be able to purchase a mobile plan from their Service Provider and connect to the Optus 5G network.
5G mobile will be available to select wholesale postpaid partners in line with the Optus 5G roll-out and Optus 5G wholesale contracts, with SpinTel the first wholesale partner to enable 5G.
This is a very surprising move, I honestly thought that they would hold on to access to their 5G networks for a good 6 months atleast. Capturing any new 5G phone carrying person keen to give it a try.
Vodafone will follow suit, but telstra will hold back. They have always been a bit quirky with their 4G network and not allowing their MVNO full access (Boost excluded), but at this stage their isn’t the coverage to limit to an MVNO.
But great to see, much more affordable 5G plans via the MVNOs