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Australia has been ranked fifth in the world for 5G download speeds in the latest global survey by mobile analytics firm Opensignal, while coming in eighth for peak 5G download speeds.
In terms of 5G download speed performance, Australia ranked just above Kuwait in the Opensignal rankings, with a “score” -- the average speed using an active 5G connection from 1 October 2020 to 29 December 2020 -- of 250.5 Mbps, and below Saudi Arabia.
The top three nations in the rankings were South Korea in first place, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan, respectively in second and third place.
For 5G peak download speed performance, Australia claimed an average of 585.3 Mbps, and was placed just above Finland and below Italy. Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Switzerland took the top three slots in that race.
However, Australia was notably absent from the top 10 countries in terms of 5G upload speeds, that list being topped by The Netherlands. Australia was also absent from the list of top 10 leaders in terms of 5G reach (location experience), with that tally led by South Korea, Hong Kong and Kuwait, which were the top three respectively.
“In most countries, operators have, to date, launched just the very first version of the 5G standard using a single wireless 5G frequency band,” Opensignal analysis team lead Ian Fogg said in a statement. “But in others we’ve seen operators start to move ahead by offering 5G on multiple spectrum bands, or use mmWave technologies to offer extremely fast speeds.
“While in other countries, most notably in the Americas and parts of South-East Asia, operators have initially been constrained by the limited availability of 5G-suitable spectrum,” he added.
Unsurprisingly, Australia’s federal Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, Paul Fletcher, is pleased with the results.
“Globally, Australia ranks fifth for 5G download speeds and eighth for 5G peak download speeds, which makes us world leaders in 5G,” Fletcher said. “Australian users are experiencing average speeds of over 250 Mbps on our 5G networks.”
Fletcher noted that the rollout of 5G in Australia would ramp up in 2021, with the country’s three major mobile networks operators now having active 5G networks.
Indeed, Telstra is aiming to have 75 per cent population coverage by June 2021, Optus has switched on over 1,000 5G sites, and Vodafone is planning to reach more than 85 per cent of the population in Australia’s six largest cities by the end of this year, according to Fletcher.
