Australian broadband: 5G in Tasmania; fibre buildout in Victoria; flooded-out service restored

Optus connects its first 5G site in Tasmania

Optus has connected the first of nine 5G sites to be connected in Hobart, Tasmania. This means Optus mobile customers who have compatible phones—the Samsung S21/22 series and Oppo Find X3—can now connect to the Optus 5G network.

Optus, in partnership with Ericsson, used a 5G frequency division duplex (FDD) carrier with massive MIMO capability on a dual-band 1800MHz/2100MHz 4G/5G active antenna integrated radio unit (AIR 1641). According to Optus, this allows the telco to offer 5G services, with both high capacity and coverage, in areas where 5G 3.5GHz spectrum is currently unavailable.

The remaining sites will be delivered by June 2022.

Fibre build to create 1,000 jobs in Victoria

The build of 1,000km of fibre between Melbourne and Sydney is expected to create 1,000 jobs in Victoria. The fibre is a project by telecommunications provider HyperOne, with one part of the project being built by UGC-5DG.

HyperOne has an ambitious plan to connect every Australian capital city via a 20,000km network capable of transmitting up to 10,000 terabits per second. It also aims to provide many regional communities with direct access to backhaul fibre for the first time, via more than 2,000 onramps and offramps across the country.

UGC-5DG said it will look to create local jobs for local workers across the route, and engage with local Indigenous suppliers for construction capability and to assist with the environmental oversight in regional and rural areas.

Flood recovery efforts bring back broadband service

Optus has recovered 92% of sites that were down during the floods affecting Queensland and New South Wales from late February 2022 to beginning of March. According to Optus, 97 sites in New South Wales have been recovered and 238 in Queensland.

Customers may still be affected due to the NBN outages, but NBN Co is also working to bring the network back online.