Telstra undertakes largest LEO cellular backhaul rollout

Telstra has begun rolling out low Earth orbit (LEO) cellular backhaul alongside broadband satellite internet service provider Eutelsat OneWeb to improve regional connectivity.

The rollout, which comes half a year after the pair signed a deal for the project in June, will provide up to 25 Gbit/s of LEO capacity for regional and remote customers.

Telstra has already started putting the technology through its paces, making the first voice call on-air at Oxford Falls, NSW. This is the first location of over 300 that have an existing remote mobile base station to be connected with Eutelsat OneWeb’s solution over the next 18 months.

The telco claimed that this was the world’s largest rollout of OneWeb LEO cellular backhaul.

Iskra Nikolova, Telstra executive for network and infrastructure, also claimed the rollout would improve the customer experience in regional and remote areas with “with lower latency, higher speeds and a more consistent experience”.

“There’s also potential for Eutelsat OneWeb as a backup backhaul solution to improve reliability in areas where terrestrial backhaul is susceptible to natural disasters and communities find themselves in isolation,” she said.

“The average bandwidth for these sites will increase at least [by 15 times] and the average latency will reduce tenfold. We’re very proud of this world-first achievement to have a LEO backhaul that guarantees that level of quality service.”

Meanwhile, Cyril Dujardin, co-general manager of Eutelsat Group’s connectivity business unit, said the partnership between the two companies would not stop with the end of this rollout.

“We are delighted to support Telstra in delivering consistent, leading-edge connectivity to its customers in Australia, regardless of location. We are honoured to count Telstra among our most trusted partners, with whom we will continue to collaborate to test and deploy current and future technology,” he added.

Telstra also said the rollout complements its T25 plan by, among other things, extending its mobile coverage.

Also aligning with its T25 plan was its planned acquisition of Melbourne-based consultancy Versent for $267.5 million in an effort to help scale its tech services business, Telstra Purple, which it announced in December last year.