Australian mobile operator Telstra and Swedish vendor Ericsson announced they completed an end-to-end standalone (SA) 5G call using the 3.6GHz spectrum band.

The call made from the operator’s 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast was supported by Ericsson’s RAN gear and a 5G SA device based on a MediaTek chipset.

Emilio Romeo, head of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, said making the first SA 5G call in Australia and the entire southern hemisphere is a “vital step in driving industrial productivity and bringing Industry 4.0 to life”.

The operator, with a 50 per cent market share by subscribers, started selling the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G at the end of May and introduced new mobile plans at end-June. It said it would offer 5G access for free over at least the first 12 months.

Channa Seneviratne, a network and infrastructure engineering executive at Telstra, said it rolled out 5G service in ten cities and plans to reach at least 35 cities over the next 12 months.