Austraia’s largest telco says the new site in Toowoomba will not only provide better coverage to its customers in the area but is also a milestone achievement, representing a  commitment to offer “connectivity to as many Australians as possible”.

Telstra (then Telecom) launched 1G in Sydney back in 1987 with just 14 base stations, and the telco says that today, the its mobile network covers more than 2.5 million square kilometres – “vastly more than any other mobile network in Australia” – and offers coverage to 99.5% of the Australian population.

“Not only is our network getting bigger, it is getting faster and smarter. The new base station in Toowoomba includes the very latest technology as part of our 5G program,” a Telstra spokesman said.

“Since passing 200 5G-enabled sites at the end of last year, our roll-out of 5G has continued in the major city CBDs with the plans to extend to a 2-kilometre radius of coverage from each city centre.

“Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth CBD roll-outs are already well progressed, as are Launceston and Hobart, and we are in the process of extending coverage in the CBDs of Sydney (including some coverage in Parramatta CBD) and Melbourne as we work towards the launch of our first 5G mobile devices.

“Toowoomba has been at the heart of this – as the first regional centre where we introduced 5G capability.

“Indeed, with more than 100 5G mobile sties now installed in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Toowoomba  – and with the region playing host to our 5G Innovation Centre (where a number of 5G world firsts were achieved) as well as our first 5G customer trial – Queensland could be considered the 5G capital of the world.”