No longer is 5G the future — it is here and now. Two of our carriers here in Australia have rolled out their 5G networks to large swathes of the capital cities with our third major carrier a bit slower but slowly expanding their reach. Now the race is on to provide the fastest service and Optus seems to have pulled ahead of Telstra according to Ookla Speedtest.
Based on the speeds measured by Ookla Speedtest in the first half of 2021 Optus was awarded the title of ‘Australia’s fastest 5G Mobile Network’. The average speed obtained by Optus’ 5G network averaged out at 323Mbps which they say is “60% faster than one of their competitors” (which we suspect is not Telstra given that they have had their 5G network rolled to for longer and further than Optus).
The measurements were obtained from 330,000 user-initiated 5G Speedtest results with Optus not only having the fastest 5G network on average but also the best latency result of just 18 milliseconds.
“Speed is king when it comes to 5G and being awarded this title by Ookla firmly establishes Optus as the leader in 5G speed,” said Matt Williams, Managing Director Marketing and Revenue.
“We know that our customers want 5G, in fact eight out of every 10 devices we sell in store today are 5G capable. We also know that consumers expect 5G to be fast and with Ookla confirming that Optus has Australia’s fastest 5G we are excited for even more customers to experience it first-hand.”
Ookla Speedtest awards are not just handed out for any old network but “are reserved for an elite delegation of network operators that have delivered exceptional internet performance and coverage within a market” according to Ookla CEO Doug Suttles.
Optus has signalled their ambition to eat into Telstra’s lead in the 5G market and with this award are well on their way to doing so. This combined with over one million 5G-enabled devices on its network and over one million homes now eligible to access its 5G Home Internet Optus are showing that they can offer a compelling package for many looking for a new 5G service.
In the end, while these carriers race to be the “best”, we, the customers, win and who isn’t happy about that?
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
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