Optus

Optus launched its 3G network in Australia on 1st May 2007, offering speeds of up to 1.8 Mbps. The network utilised the 2100 MHz frequency band, which was commonly used for 3G networks worldwide. On 1st May 2008, Optus launched UMTS900, a new technology that utilised the 900 MHz frequency band. This lower frequency allowed for greater coverage and better building penetration, improving the user experience, particularly in rural areas and within buildings. On 1st April 2011, the network was upgraded to 21 Mbps HSPA+, a high-speed packet access technology that boosted the network's data transmission capabilities.

The company announced its 3G network would be shutdown by September 2024.

Optus began the rollout of its 4G network in Australia using Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology in 2011. The initial focus was on regions like Newcastle, Port Stephens, the Hunter Valley and Lake Macquarie. By mid-2012, the network had expanded to include Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. In November 2011, Optus completed its first data connection using LTE technology over the 700MHz band, after being allotted spectrum in Bendigo, Victoria. In March 2012, Huawei Technologies deployed its SingleRAN equipment for the construction of an LTE-based network in Newcastle, New South Wales, enabling 4G services over the 1800 MHz band. In the same month, Optus tested 4G LTE technology over the 700 MHz band in Bendigo, achieving downlink speeds of up to 70 Mbps, transmission distances of 13 km, and upload speeds of 32 Mbps. 

In April 2012, Optus launched trial 4G LTE services in the Hunter region, providing coverage of Greater Newcastle, Maitland, Port Stephens, and areas in the Hunter Valley. In July 2012, Optus launched commercial LTE-based services for SME and government customers in Sydney and Perth, utilising its in-deployment FDD LTE network across the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz spectrum bands. In September 2012, Optus commercially launched its LTE network for residential customers in Sydney, Perth and Newcastle, with planned expansion to Melbourne. In December 2012, Optus launched a TDD-LTE network in the Australian Capital Territory, making use of a portion of the 98 MHz of spectrum acquired from Vivid Wireless in the 2.3 GHz band.

In February 2017 the company announced successful NB-IoT trials in partnership with Cisco Jasper. Optus quietly enabled its NB-IoT mid-2021 over the B28 700 MHz band.

Optus launched LTE-A Pro "4.5G" services in February 2017, boasting peak data rates in excess of 1 Gb/s, using carrier aggregation, 256QAM modulation, and 4x4 MIMO technologies. This was extended further in September 2017 when the company deployed Massive MIMO in some areas of its live network, featuring 64T64R MIMO using technology.

During 2023, Optus began readying its network for deployment of 4G in its 900 MHz spectrum acquired in a December 2021 auction, which saw 2x25 MHz paired spectrum awarded to the company. By mid-2024, large parts of its network were upgraded to use a 10 MHz B8 carrier, in addition to 5G services in the band.

Optus initiated its 5G network journey in Sydney on 16th November 2016, conducting a successful trial that achieved a single user transmission rate of 35Gbps over the 73GHz band. This was made possible through the use of millimetre wave and Polar code technologies. By 5th February 2018, Optus began the rollout of 5G technology, deploying a fixed-wireless product in key metro areas. This followed an outdoor trial for 5G New Radio (NR) that recorded downlink speeds of 2Gbps using a potential device for a fixed wireless service in both C-band and mmWave frequencies. 

On 6th April 2018, Optus launched a public showcase using a live 5G trial indoor and outdoor network, where 5G use cases and 8K video streaming were demonstrated. Optus completed a data call using 60MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum from a 5G site in Dickson, Canberra on 14th January 2019. This was done utilising a commercial grade 5G radio network and customer premises equipment developed in partnership with Nokia. 

On 11th February 2019, Optus switched on a new live 5G site in the Kellyville suburb of Sydney, using Ericsson's 5G RAN equipment and operating on Optus' 3.5GHz spectrum with a channel bandwidth of 60 MHz. On 25th February 2019, engineers used OPPO's 5G test devices equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modems to successfully complete an Augmented Reality (AR) 5G video call using Ericsson's networks. 

Optus officially launched 5G services in November 2019 with an initial 290 sites, and expanded to 1200 as of March 2020. Development continued over 2021 with the company announcing the successful implementation of Standalone (SA) 5G, along with the country's first Interleaved Passive Active Antennas (IPAA) allowing it to support 4G-5G technologies from a single base station module.

In May 2021 Optus announced that it had switched on its first six 5G mmWave commercial sites in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. The company secured 800 MHz of 26 GHz spectrum from 26700 to 27500 MHz following the April 2021 ACMA spectrum auction.

Throughout 2021 Optus began refarming its B1 (2100 MHz) LTE services into 5G NR2100 with the intention of deploying FDD-TDD aggregated 5G services. Optus announced in February 2023 that it had successfully implemented n8 (900 MHz) 5G at over 1000 sites across the country.