Optus CEO Allen Lew has called for the government and NBN Co to consider 5G wireless technology as an upgrade path for those parts of the National Broadband Network where performance is limited by the use of copper wiring, and as an alternative to laying additional fibre to households to deliver faster speeds.
NBN has demonstrated downstream bandwidth of 1.1 gigabit per second and 165 megabits per second upstream on its fixed wireless network, but says spectrum constraints make the chances of a commercial service very slim.
NBN will offer a 100/40 megabits per second wholesale service on its fixed wireless network from early 2018.
Australians in rural and regional areas will be connected to the NBN Co's 2.3Ghz LTE fixed-wireless broadband network using devices provided by NetComm (ASX:NTC) following the signing of a deal with Ericsson, estimated to be worth $200 million.
Which American city will receive Google's experimental fiber network? We'll have to wait a while longer to find out, it seems.