Telstra ramps up 5G in regional Australia despite Covid conspiracy theories and protests
Covid-19 conspiracy theories and protests did not prevent Telstra from ramping up its 5G network construction over the past year, with 75% of the population now able to access the new technology.
In the past year, despite lockdowns and restrictions, Telstra was able to keep up construction of its new 5G network. The telecommunications company now has 5G in more than 200 cities and towns, and at least 50% coverage in more than 2,700 suburbs.
The company’s executive of networks and IT, Nikos Katinakis, says the initial focus for 5G construction had been in the major metropolitan areas, but in 2021 Telstra had focused on expanding into regional areas.
In the past six months, Telstra has installed 5G towers in EchucaMoama, Castlemaine, Port Douglas, Yass, Murray Bridge, Devonport, and Esperance.
There are 3,700 5G tower sites now connected across Australia, and 1.5m devices on the network able to access 5G. Telstra’s nearest rival, Optus, has more than 1,200 5G sites, and 1m 5G devices on its network.
There have been challenges. Even before the pandemic, politicians were inundated with complaints from the public about false claims of the dangers of 5G, and it only increased after Covid-19. In the past 18 months there have been anti-5G protests, attempts to block telecommunications workers from accessing towers, and towers set alight.
A parliamentary committee warned last year that “a vast amount of misinformation about the safety and impact of 5G is out there”, and the federal government announced a $9m investment to address misinformation about the health impacts of telecommunications infrastructure.
But Katinakis said the pandemic, as well as a “vary rare” amount of community resistance to 5G, had not slowed the rollout.
“Most places welcome the expansion into 5G because it gives them tremendous capability,” he said.
“Yes, there was quite a bit of noise at the beginning of the deployment, around how 5G spreads Covid – obviously not scientifically-based opinions – but there are some communities that have resisted the expansion of the coverage.
“We’ve seen some demonstrations – people show up in the demonstration against 5G bringing their 4G phones taping everything, and ultimately congesting the site.”
He said in some communities where there had been complaints about 5G there had also been complaints about a lack of network coverage.
Telstra will soon begin rolling out 5G small cells, which use mmWave technology and allow for large amounts of data to be transferred in a short time over short distances. It requires more radio technology to be deployed in more places in metropolitan areas of Australia where the technology will most likely be used.
There are already 50 sites where this technology is used in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Goulburn.
Katinakis said Telstra will need to convince local councils to speed up the process of approving sites for the technology to be put in place.
“If we treat each one of those small boxes the same way as we treat the big tower, as you can imagine, it is going to be a really slow and painful process,” he said. “So we have reached out to many municipalities to enable a faster, easier permit and design process.”
Telstra will also soon begin planning to wind down its 3G network, which will be shut down in 2024. The radio frequency spectrum that 3G currently uses will then be used for 5G services. But in order to ensure coverage remains the same, Telstra has committed to expanding its 4G network from 99.4% of the population (2m sq km)to match 3G coverage at 99.5% of the population (2.5m sq km).