Australia’s second largest telco announced that in partnership with Nokia — who are supplying the 5G RAN and Fastmile 5G CPEs — its 5G sites are now live in two suburbs in Canberra, with an additional site live in Sydney and 47 more sites planned to be online by March 2019.
Optus said on Thursday it would give select customers the opportunity to be part of the first wave of its 5G Home Broadband through an Expressions of Interest campaign in selected areas – with a 5G Home Broadband offer of unlimited data for $70 per month with a 50Mbps satisfaction guarantee.
Optus describes the release of its 5G plans as a “game changer” and chief executive Allen Lew said, “this is a historic day for Optus as we begin our exciting 5G journey with the announcement of Optus’ 5G Home Broadband service,”
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"We will open the service up to more customers and more locations as more devices are released and our 5G cells continue to roll out.
“Whether its bingeing on your favourite series in 4K, taking on a crafty Fortnite opponent, streaming your favourite Party mix on Spotify or live streaming the latest Premier League match – Optus 5G Home Broadband is designed to deliver customers a great, multi-platform experience. And it is only just the start.”
Optus says it plans to deliver 5G sites across the ACT, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia by March 2020.
“We currently have three live in-network 5G cells, but we will be turbo-charging our roll-out over the next 12 months to deliver 5G cells on the Optus Mobile Network across Australia with the goal of putting this exciting technology into the hands of our customers as soon as possible,” said Lew.
“We will continue to adopt a multi-vendor approach to our network technology infrastructure that will drive innovation and competition, which is critical to Optus’ DNA.”
Lew said Optus’ multi-year 5G network build would include upgrading and adding new mobile sites while densifying the network with innovative small cell solutions to increase capacity and speed in highly populated inner-city locations.
Anticipating future demand for 5G mobile services, Lew said the 1200 sites would include residential locations and other key customer hotspots surrounding airports, train stations, sports stadiums and CBD locations.
Plans revealed show that Optus 5G Home Broadband will be priced at $70 per month which will include unlimited data at superfast speeds with a 50Mbps satisfaction guarantee.
Lew said an off-the-shelf product will be available through a variety of Optus touch points in the coming months.
“When Optus customers have 5G compatible handsets in areas with Optus 5G network coverage they will also be able to experience 5G services on-the-go. We are working with a range of smartphone manufacturers and will announce details about 5G smartphone handset availability and plans in the future.”
Optus opened expressions of interest on Thursday allowing customers to register their interest in selected suburbs to be among the first to experience 5G in Australia.
Customers need to visit this site and enter their suburb to check eligibility for the first phase of Optus 5G Home Broadband.
The telco says initial 5G coverage will be for limited areas within the suburb. However it will confirm serviceability with these customers.
“I encourage eligible Optus customers to register their expression of interest,” Lew said.
Optus says customers will be selected based on 5G serviceability at their address to ensure they enjoy the best possible 5G experience, with initial services expected to be delivered in Q2 2019.
