Optus rides mmWave into Queensland’s flagship retail store

First retail location in Australia equipped with ‘faster than fast’ mmWave 5G

In an Australian first, Optus has installed cutting edge mmWave 5G technology into one of its flagship stores as it takes yet another step towards delivering this super-fast, exciting new technology directly into the hands of its customers.

Optus' Queen Street retail store in Brisbane has become the first location in Australia to be equipped with mmWave 5G - ‘the fastest type of 5G’, with in-building coverage provided by Nokia and a super-fast 5G Gateway from Casa Systems together delivering speeds in store in excess of 4.7 Gbps thanks to mmWave’s high bandwidth and super-fast speed.

Bringing this mmWave 5G technology to life for customers, Optus has also installed a visually immersive experience in its Brisbane Queen Street retail store. Visitors to the store won’t miss a moment of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 with a mammoth wall of 40 screens simultaneously streaming Seven’s coverage of Tokyo 2020 on 7plus.  This exciting activation will run from 27^th July to 8^th August 2021.

“Having mmWave installed in one of our leading flagship retail stores, soon after gaining access to mmWave spectrum, is another step towards getting this exciting technology into the hands of our customers,” said Maurice McCarthy, Optus Managing Director Customer Success.

“Our magnificent Queen Street store brings to life the power of mmWave for our customers showing them the fastest 5G technology in action, with this Australian first deployment of an mmWave in-building coverage solution.

“It’s thanks to the incredible bandwidth afforded by mmWave that we are able to simultaneously stream Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 content, via the Seven Network in high-definition.

“It can be hard for people to visualise just how fast mmWave is, so we wanted to offer our customers the opportunity to see this new 5G technology first-hand today. Streaming high-definition content across 40 devices simultaneously, in one location, requires sustained bandwidth which has been made possible here thanks to the unique features enabled by mmWave.”

Optus has been working closely with network technology partner Nokia to enable mmWave 5G in Queen Street to bring yet another 5G milestone to life - after already successfully offering Australia’s fastest 5G*. Optus is also working with technology partner Ericsson to deliver mmWave in its flagship George Street store in Sydney.

The deployment of this mmWave in-building coverage solution enables Optus to test and understand the technology’s capability ahead of a larger commercial rollout to consumer, business and enterprise customers.

“We are working rapidly behind the scenes with our technology partners to prepare our mmWave network for our customers. We know that our consumer and business customers are going to love getting their hands on mmWave technology once it is available widely. In fact, we expect that mmWave will enable our Optus Business customers to power their entire office including laptops and handsets, all from one super-fast 5G connection,” added Mr McCarthy.

*Based on analysis by Ookla® of Speedtest Intelligence® data Q1-Q2 2021.

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