5G incoming: Telstra pushes 1Gbps barrier

Telstra Ericsson 1Gbps

Things are about to get a whole lot faster, with Telstra claiming it has hit the very limit of what can be considered 4G.

Giving us a tantalising glimpse of what happens when LTE is pushed, Telstra and Ericsson have collaborated to successfully test the 1Gbps capability of Telstra's commercial mobile network.

In a world first, the speed was achieved by aggregating 100MHz of Telstra's spectrum holdings across five separate 4G channels.

LTE limits

While 1Gbps is still classed as 4G, the global consensus considers it the absolute pinnacle of what 4G can be. Now that Telstra has reached this limit, anything beyond will be 5G.

To provide a sense of just how quick 1Gbps really is, Telstra currently offers customers speeds that max out at 450Mbps for mobile devices, and 600Mbps for mobile hotspots.

Mark Wright, Telstra's Group Managing Director of Networks, claims the company still has work to do, but promises "the days of commercial 1Gbps services in the market are coming."