Telstra has installed 50 4G-capable small cells in Melbourne’s CBD as part of a national rollout of the technology.
Although Telstra has previously used small cells to provide coverage in rural and remote parts of Australia, the telco is now also using them to provide extra capacity in high-demand areas.
The telco plans to roll out around 1000 new small cells across Australia over a three-year period. Telstra said it plans to place small cells in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.
“We have now put small cells at some of Melbourne’s busiest locations – from Southern Cross station, to Degraves St, to Young and Jackson’s Hotel on Flinders St to the front of the Tennis Centre,” said Telstra executive director for network and infrastructure engineering, Channa Seneviratne.
“Working in concert with our existing 3G and 4G base stations across the city, these small cells will deliver fast internet browsing, video streaming, social media or a mobile office to our customers.”
Seneviratne said that by mid-year Telstra will activate additional LTE-Advanced features such as Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) in the CBD.
“This will further boost the efficiency and performance of the network in the CBD,” he said.
Earlier this month Telstra announced it was planning to install small cells on the infrastructure of electricity distributor TasNetworks in Tasmania, beginning with a trial in Weldboroug.
The telco has identified a range of potential sites where it could use the utility’s infrastructure to host small cells, including Tunnack in the Southern Midlands, Pyengana in north-east Tasmania, Forcett near Sorell, Adventure Bay at Bruny Island, and West Hobart.
Credit: Telstra