5G technology has been switched on in Toowoomba, making it the first regional community in Australia and one of the first places in the world to be 5G ready.
Civic and business leaders joined with Telstra executives at the Harristown base station in Toowoomba today to launch the higher capability technology.
Telstra chief executive officer Andrew Penn said the switch-on highlighted Telstra’s commitment to providing 5G technology to regional Australia.
“Telstra provides more network investment and mobile coverage across Australia than anyone else and regional Australia is an essential part of our 5G plans,” Mr Penn said.
“5G devices are around the corner and when they are commercially available this network upgrade means the people of Toowoomba will be among the first people in the world to enjoy access to 5G services.
“Bringing the transformational technology of 5G to Toowoomba is exciting for the possibilities it will enable, be it in education, health, community services, business and agriculture.
“For a sector like agriculture, the fibre-like data speeds, low latency and high performance and capacity of 5G open up fantastic opportunities for growth.”
Mr Penn said more than 200 5G-capable sites were planned to be live around Australia by the end of 2018.
Telstra says its rollout of 5G is underpinned by about $5 billion in mobile network investment over the three years to June 30, 2019, to enhance the capacity, capability and reach of Telstra’s network.