Telstra, the leading mobile provider in Australia, is bringing satellite base stations to remote areas with the use of OneWeb satellites, which operate in low earth orbits instead of traditional geostationary satellites.
Iskra Nikolova, Telstra’s Network Infrastructure Manager, noted that these remote base stations often face natural disasters that disrupt communication in the surrounding communities. To address this, Telstra is now providing mobile network coverage to these remote areas through over 300 satellite antennas that were previously connected via geostationary satellites. Within the next 18 months, Telstra plans to transition to OneWeb, leveraging a purchased bandwidth of 25Gbps, resulting in a significant reduction in latency for these satellite stations, from 250ms to just 50-70ms.
Australia is a vast country with remote areas and a dense population that makes it challenging to lay fiber networks. Telstra, as a company, offers various satellite services, including Starlink for home internet and direct-to-mobile connectivity.
TLDR: Telstra, the telecommunications provider in Australia, is replacing its geostationary satellites with OneWeb low earth orbit satellites to enhance communication in remote areas. This transition will greatly decrease latency and improve mobile network coverage.
Leave a Comment