Australian operator TPG Telecom has announced plans to roll out 5G services sooner to its customers. The new way of working, dubbed ‘5G Smart Module’, has been developed by TPG Telecom in partnership with steel fabricators Site Pro 1 and radio frequency experts Vecta Labs and will see hundreds of sites across Australia being upgraded to 5G in coming months.
TPG Telecom reports that antennas, radio equipment and cabling are now being pre-assembled onto prefabricated steel frames and subjected to testing in high tech radio chambers on the factory floor before being delivered to mobile tower sites where they are hoisted into place as a single assembly.
Advantages of the new process
The 5G Smart Module is expected to enable the reduction in the time towers are off air due to upgrades, while higher levels of equipment testing than can be conducted in the field; reduction in staff working at heights while exposed to the elements; as well as increased packaging recycling.
The 5G Smart Module will power TPG Telecom’s accelleartion of its 5G mobile rollout, with 1,600 sites in the planning and design phase. It will also assist in the company’s overall efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and allow for better waste management control in the factory assembly process, allowing 23 tonnes of cardboard, three tonnes of Styrofoam and three tonnes of thermoplastics to be recycled every year, TPG also said.
Some of TPG Telecom’s mobile towers reach heights of 30 metres or more, and the innovation is expected to reduce the length of time the riggers need to work on elevated platforms, towers or rooftops, while exposed to the elements.
TPG Telecom’s 5G network rollout details
TPG Telecom is currently deploying its 5G network to selected areas in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth, the Gold Coast, Newcastle, the Central Coast and Geelong. 5G is available in more than 650 suburbs across these major metro areas and TPG Telecom currently has around 1,600 sites in the planning and design phase. Its current plan is to cover 85 percent of the population in the six most populous cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra) with its 5G network by end-2021.
