Telstra announced what it said was Australia’s first live 5G connection using a commercial chipset on its mobile network on the Gold Coast.

The operator, the largest in the country with a 50 per cent market share, said the 5G 3GPP Release 15 data call was made using its 3.5GHz spectrum, Ericsson’s latest 5G network software and Qualcomm’s commercial 5G chipset in a form factor device.

Channa Seneviratne, a network engineering executive at Telstra, said field testing with a commercial chipset and its live network moves verification from “the lab into the street”. He added that the announcement is a significant milestone as it signals commercial 5G devices are getting closer.

The operator also said it turned on two 5G-enabled base stations in the state of Tasmania. In August it switched on its first 5G-compatible cell sites in Gold Coast to enable testing of pre-commercial devices, with aims to deploy more than 200 sites across Australia by the year-end.

Telstra plans a commercial 5G launch in 2019 and is engaged in various trials at its 5G Innovation Centre in Gold Coast, which it opened in February.