Optus announces plans for 1,200 5G sites in first wave, $70 per month unlimited 5G broadband plans

Optus today revealed the first details of its game changing 5G Home Broadband service which is underpinned by a plan to deliver 1,200 5G sites by March 2020.

In partnership with Nokia, who are supplying the 5G RAN and Fastmile 5G CPEs, Optus 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 will give select customers the opportunity to be part of the first wave of Optus 5G Home Broadband through an Expressions of Interest campaign in selected areas.

Optus 5G Home Broadband will offer unlimited data for $70 per month with a 50Mbps Satisfaction Guarantee.

This is an historic day for Optus as we begin our exciting 5G journey with the announcement of Optus 5G Home Broadband service, Optus Chief Executive Allen Lew said.

We will have more 5G sites going live across Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and Sydney over the coming months giving a select group of customers the chance to get their hands on our 5G Home Broadband devices in areas of selected suburbs.

"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, said Mr Lew.

5G Roll-Out schedule

Optus 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, Mr Lew said.

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.

Mr 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, Mr Lew noted that the 1,200 sites will include residential locations and other key customer hotspots surrounding airports, train stations, sports stadiums and CBD locations.

Plans Revealed

Optus 5G Home Broadband will be priced at $70 per month which will include unlimited data at superfast speeds with a 50Mbps Satisfaction Guarantee.

Mr 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.

Expressions of Interest

Optus has opened expressions of interest today allowing customers to register their interest in selected suburbs to be amongst the first to experience 5G in Australia.

Customers simply need to visit www.optus.com.au/5G and enter their suburb to check eligibility for the first phase of Optus 5G Home Broadband.

Initial 5G coverage will be for limited areas within the suburb however Optus will confirm serviceability with these customers.

I encourage eligible Optus customers to register their expression of interest, Mr Lew said.

Customers will be selected based on 5G serviceability at their address to ensure they enjoy the best possible 5G experience. Initial services are expected to be delivered in Q2 2019.

The first 50 Optus 5G sites will cover 60 suburbs, with expressions of interest areas including:

Background technical information

• Optus is the first carrier in Australia to enable an end-to-end 5G fixed wireless access service with a 5G CPE device on a live network using 60MHz bandwidth. In the future, this technology has the potential of delivering up to 1Gbps peak speed, a concept which has been successfully tested in a lab environment using test equipment.

• Optus’ network, and the CPE device used, follows the latest 3GPP Rel15 Sep specification. We will continue to upgrade software as we receive new updates from network and device providers to deliver the new functionalities and capabilities.

• Nokia’s CPE has an 11dBi gain antenna, as compared to a traditional receiver antenna of 3-4dBi gain. This improved antenna will deliver a 5G connection in residential areas with stronger signals received.

*50Mbps Satisfaction Guarantee

• If at any time you are not satisfied that you are getting download speeds of at least 50Mbps, simply get in touch and we will let you cancel your contract without cancellation fees when you return your 5G device to us.

• For New services on 5G Home Broadband 24-month or month-to-month contract only. Return the Optus 5G device in good working order within 30 days. The Optus 50Mbps Satisfaction Guarantee does not affect your Australian Consumer Law rights under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth).

Image: Optus 5G Home Broadband service in home

Image: Optus 5G Home Broadband service in kitchen

Image: Optus 5G Home Broadband service with gaming device

Image: Optus 5G Home Broadband service with family