Optus confirms switch-on of its 5G SA network

After close to a year of testing, including customer trials to get it just right, we’ve launched our 5G Standalone network.

5G standalone allows network slicing, cloud orchestration, edge computing, and self-healing networks that will progressively elevate mobile connectivity’s capabilities.

Sounds awesome doesn’t it, but what does it really all mean and how can you benefit from it?

The next frontier of 5G, 5G Standalone is 5G in turbo mode: pedal to the floor, flying around corners with a boot full of capability.

With 5G Standalone, there is no reliance on the 4G radio and core network. It is run over the 5G core and unlike 5G non-standalone, it uses 5G to communicate from the device to the base station, allowing more devices to communicate simultaneously at higher speeds. It is this ‘standalone’ aspect, with no anchoring to 4G infrastructure, that makes its capabilities and characteristics so incredible.

I expect you’re wondering what the benefits of 5G Standalone are and why we even need this new capability. Well, at Optus, we are always looking at how we can harness the power of technology to benefit our customers.

And there are benefits aplenty with 5G Standalone. Ones that, in the future, can be tailored to customers’ needs, whether they are an individual or a large-scale enterprise.

While it’s still early stages for 5G Standalone and we are still in the process of building out more infrastructure to support it, here are some examples of what we expect 5G Standalone will deliver.

CT Bureau