"Telstra recently confirmed it now has 5G services operational from more than 200 cell sites spread across all of Australia's major cities - Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Launceston, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast," Pirie says.
"These cell sites are 'live', meaning that if you had a suitable device you could use 5G already.
Apple, Huawei, Samsung and other phone makers have yet to release 5G handsets.
But at the CES trade show in Las Vegas during mid January, Telstra chief executive Andy Penn said his company has signed a number of agreements with handset device manufacturers, with more deals in the offing, which he said would mean 5G smartphones and other devices would be available "within the first half of 2019".
Optus's 5G home broadband product will use a special 5G modem. It's in the same vein as Spark's fixed wireless service on this side of the Tasman, which uses the telco's 4G mobile network to deliver broadband into a home that's not yet within reach of UFB fibre, or where the household budget won't stretch to UFB-level pricing.
Spark boss Simon Moutter says his company currently has around 114,000 fixed wireless connections. The telco loves them, because - unlike landlines - they cut wholesaler Chorus out of the loop. But the Spark boss says all the low-hanging fruit has gone. For another big leap forward, Spark needs to upgrade to 5G, which has the bandwidth to handle unlimited data plans - and the speed to take on fibre.
Spark faces twin frustrations in 5G.
One, the GCSB has blocked its chosen technology partner, Huawei. This afternoon, Pirie said, "We are still in discussions with GCSB to clarify aspects of their decision, before deciding what we do moving forward." Justice Minister Andrew Little has made it clear there is not a carte blanche ban on Huawei. In theory, at least, there's the possibility the Chinese company could propose an alternative technology solution that would address the GCSB's national security concerns.
Two, while Spark might be chomping at the bit, our government is tracking to an early 2020 timeframe for 5G upgrades.
Australia had a 5G spectrum auction last year, but New Zealand has yet to set a date for allocating bands for the pending mobile upgrade - or even decide which chunks of spectrum will be up for grabs.
Communications minister Kris Faafoi is still working through technical, pricing and iwi-related issues - and his statements so far indicate he's in no mind to accelerate the current schedule.
"While we acknowledge the government needs to work through a process when it comes to 5G spectrum allocation, we remain keen to see an allocation process in the near future that will enable us to deliver exciting new 5G services to New Zealanders as quickly as possible. We've set an indicative target date for 5G of 1 July 2020 – and we would love to be able to offer services sooner than that."
Earlier, Moutter said that for Spark to hit its July 1, 2020 target, the spectrum auction would have to take place by the middle of this year. Right now, that's looking touch-and-go.
Silver lining
It's not all doom and gloom from Spark today.
"Australia's rapid progress is in many respects good news for New Zealand, as we have the opportunity to dovetail with a bigger nearby market when it comes to getting on the radar of global device manufacturers," Pirie says.
"The Optus offer of unlimited 5G broadband at very competitive prices with minimum speed guarantees is also a sign of what's going to be possible for consumers and businesses in a 5G world."
Spark biggest rival, Vodafone, is cooler on 5G.
New chief executive Jason Paris recently told the Herald that while he was a major fan of technology, "If we released 5G tomorrow in New Zealand, I don't think you'd be willing to pay $5 or $10 more for it. As an industry, we have to get out of this 'invest more and get less' mode."
