Australia will have a 5G network by 2020, says Vodafone CTO
That high-tech future isn't too far off, according to Vodafone. The company's Australian chief technology officer Benoit Hanssen told reporters at an event in Sydney Tuesday he believes Australia will soon have the super-speedy mobile service.
The development of 5G, the fifth generation mobile network, which is predicted to bring seriously faster download speeds, has prompted a flurry of investment worldwide. Not only will it help you watch crisp movies on your phone, there are hopes 5G will provide the backbone for everything from the "Internet of things" to driverless cars.
Hanssen said he believes Australia will be among the first countries to adopt 5G by 2020, "plus or minus a year here or there." He pointed to Australia's track record of early adoption: "Australia adopted the smartphone enthusiastically — smartphone penetration is one of the highest in the world," he said. "There is a readiness to adopt new things, and you have a population that can largely afford to adopt new things.
"We do think that as [5G] comes out, Australia will be there."
4G, which arrived in Australia around 2011, has been widely adopted. According to Hanssen, more than 70% of Vodafone customers are now on 4G phones, and he expects it to reach 90% penetration in 2016. Still, some are hanging on. "We still have a few 2G customers, if you can believe," he said.
In 2015, Vodafone struck a deal with telecommunications service provider TPG to extend its fibre network, putting the company in a better position to bring 5G Down Under. It's a work in progress, however, with Hanssen sharing Tuesday that the bulk of the network is yet to be rolled out.
It's still early days, but there are plenty of indications 5G is going to be a game changer. While not a real world test, in 2015, British scientists claimed they broke speed records during tests of 5G data connections, reaching one terabit per second. According to the BBC, with such a speed, it "would be theoretically possible to download a file 100 times the size of a feature film in about three seconds."
When asked what kind of speeds we can expect with 5G in 2020, Vodafone Group Technology Officer Johan Wibergh said Tuesday, "short answer: we don't know."
"We need more spectrum to get higher speeds," he added. The release of spectrum is still being negotiated globally, with the local telecommunications industry lobbying the Australian government to release new frequency bands.
Another of Australia's large mobile providers, Telstra, has also indicated it's on the 5G bandwagon. At Telstra's 2015 annual results briefing, former CEO Andrew Penn confirmed reports the network aims to bring 5G to Australia by 2020. "[5G] addresses the world of an Internet of things," he said, according to the Australian Associated Press. "You can imagine a world in 2020 where almost anything that could be connected will be connected."
