Australian telco aims to cover 600,000 premises with LTE technology
SHANGHAI – NBN Co, the Australian company rolling out the country’s National Broadband Network, expects to commercially launch LTE service in the fourth quarter of the year. The announcement was made by Paul Fletcher, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Communications, during a keynote presentation at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai.
Australia’s National Broadband Network is a national wholesale network that sells fixed line and wireless broadband connections to retail service providers, who then sell Internet access and other services to consumers.
Fletcher said that NBN had launched a trial of the service in association with Ericsson in May. The firm’s LTE trial offers access speeds up to 50 megabits per second on the downlink and 20 Mbps on the uplink. Fletcher said that the company’s LTE subscribers are currently using an average of 70 gigabytes of data per month. The fixed-wireless pilot is expected to conclude 20 business days after the commercial launch of the service, according to NBN.
Fletcher also said that NBN is currently using fixed-wireless LTE to reach underserved and isolated areas of the country, where it is difficult to deploy conventional fixed infrastructure.
“The NBN is an ambitious project to deliver high speed broadband services to every home in Australia using a combination of a fixed access network in the cities and major towns, fixed wireless in less densely populated areas and satellite in remote areas,” Fletcher added.
NBN’s network currently covers 270,000 premises across Australia, with 47,000 active end-users.
“NBN is adding approximately 1,000 end-users each month,” Fletcher said, adding that the firm’s LTE network infrastructure will cover 600,000 premises through the deployment of 2,700 base stations.
Commenting on the future development of “5G” technology, Fletcher said that 5G service will enable NBN to offer substantial higher data usage on its fixed-wireless networks. “5G will be a key technology for the future of NBN,” Fletcher said.
