Telstra mobile network ready for standalone 5G
Telstra announced on Friday its mobile network was "end-to-end enabled" with support for standalone 5G.
5G networks can offer non-standalone 5G, with uses of 5G radios with a 4G core, or standalone mode which replaces the 4G core with a 5G core.
The telco said it had upgraded its 5G radio network and connected it to its Ericsson 5G core, in order to handle standalone traffic.
"Getting the Telstra mobile network to be 5G standalone-ready is an important step towards unleashing greater capabilities for enterprises and consumers alike," Telstra's group executive networks and IT Nikos Katinakis said.
"The new standalone capability will be able to support new enterprise services that power a branch office running multiple applications and services. It could also help new industry vertical use cases such as manufacturing and remote-controlled operations."
Devices capable of using standalone 5G are not yet commercially available, but Telstra said it expects that to occur in late 2020, with devices currently undergoing testing. The first customers to make use of the network would be enterprises and early-adopting developers, before consumers jumped on the network, the telco added.
In July, Telstra and Ericsson made a call over the standalone network.
Earlier this week, it was reported Apple was slowing down production of its first 5G phone.
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