When it comes to internet speed, Telstra just made the mark after launching a mobile network that is ten times faster than Australia's New Broadband Network. This is reportedly going to turn heads around. According to Emilio Romeo, Ericsson ANZ chief executive, the average time a person uses up watching videos on a smart phone has doubled since 2011. It is currently at 1.9 GB. He predicts that each smart phone would use more than 11GB per month by 2022. Video streaming is considerably the reason for the huge chunk of data usage.
Considering that 75 percent of mobile data use comes from streaming videos, Telstra's wireless LTE roll out would be huge, as reported by the Financial Review. Gigabit LTE would roll out first in the inner metro areas in Australia. However, there is no official information yet if mobile internet plans will be updated with the faster speeds. But the fast speed will not be accessible from mobile phones. Which is why Telstra's move also prompts Netgear to launch the first Gigabit LTE device called the Nighthawk M1 mobile router which will cost $360. This is because current smart phones in the market cannot access Gigabit LTE.
Netgear features the first device that would be available to Australian consumers in the next few weeks, as reported by The Australian. Gigabit LTE is considered to be a revolutionary step for Telstra. Consumers are advised not to worry because, Peter Carson, the senior director of marketing at Qualcomm Technologies says that Gigabit LTE equipped phones would arrive in the market in the third or fourth quarter of 2017. This is in Australia first. The launch will then arrive in North America, Europe, Japan and Korea afterwards. Qualcomm is also conducting Gigabit LTE demos in China.
For now, this is what the world can get as everyone waits for 5G to happen. Gigabit LTE by Telstra and Netgear will be a sneak peek to what 5G can deliver.
Watch the Snapdragon Processors live feed below for the keynote presentations from Telstra, Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies, and Netgear.
