Telstra has sent out invites for a special announcement in Sydney tomorrow, May 19, as reports from a number of newspapers today are saying that the telco will be announcing a public Wi-Fi network.
The Wi-Fi network will be used to help boost usage and coverage across the country, and will likely piggyback off of Telstra’s existing national infrastructure, which is rather extensive.
Not much else has been revealed other than access to the national Wi-Fi network and its hotspots will be available to all Telstra customers, with no distinction made between mobile and broadband customers.
Wi-Fi all over the place
As a public network, Telstra will likely also offer hotspot access to non-Telstra customers for a fee.
Because Wi-Fi technology (working off a robust broadband network) can offer greater speeds than 3G and 4G, offering up its Wi-Fi network to non-Telstra could potentially pull customers away from higher-priced, higher-data plans for those after a faster mobile data experience.
It could also free up a lot of the load on current 4G/3G networks, so we could see a faster user experience for all in the long run.
Of course, if Telstra does end up announcing a national Wi-Fi network, building and implementing the network and access plans will likely take some time.
The announcement is to be made by Telstra CEO David Thodey tomorrow afternoon in Sydney. Telstra has declined to comment on the reports until then.
TechRadar will be at the announcement tomorrow, so do remember to check back for more info.
Via: The Australian
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