If you think that record speeds are the best thing to come from our jump to 5G then think again – in just a short year or so our mobile networks will harness the power of Satellites to provide mobile coverage to areas where there is zero service today.
It’s called 5G Advanced, and most likely in 2025 our networks will start offering this service on the newest and latest handsets.
Those new smartphones will be able to connect to the “mobile network” using low-earth-orbit Satellites.
This doesn’t mean Telstra, Optus and Vodafone will be launching Satellites into space. Instead, private operators like Starlink or Amazon – basically ay space tech company, will enhance their satellites with the technology to pair up with a mobile network.
I met with Telstra and their Network partner Ericsson today in Barcelona to discuss 5G Advanced. And while 5G Advanced will also offer progress in low energy 5G use which will be particularly fascinating for IoT devices which might now possibly have multi-year life spans on battery – or it might offer a new increase in speed, I think the use of Low-Earth-Orbit satellite is amazing.
In all honestly, I feel like this is the biggest advance in mobile technology in many many years.
Thanks to tiny satellites in space, your mobile will take calls on the most deserted road in Australia. Pick somewhere that there is legitimately zero mobile coverage, using 5G Advanced, make calls as you need.
5G Advanced offers this new area of Mobile Call and Text coverage, while also offering data albeit slower.
For context, while Telstra covers 98.8% coverage across the total Australian population, the coverage of Australia’s total land-mass is more likely to be 30%.
Adding mobile coverage to over 70% of the Australian land-mass is a complete and utter game-changer.
Critically, this is vastly different to Apple’s emergency Satellite communication platform that will come to Australia this year. It’s also different to that from CAT Phones at Bullit. These are proprietary and what we’re talking about is something that helps all users no matter where they are.
Lives can and will be saved with this technology. No more will a broken down car on a remote dirt track mean a worrying wait, it will just be a different place to call Triple-O from.
5G Advanced will require new handsets, and will require our Telcos to do deals with a low-earth orbit satellite company and conduct a range of testing.
Telstra seem ready and willing. We’ll seen soon how much demand there will be.
