As part of its journey towards 5G, Australian operator Telstra has completed a series of demonstrations in collaboration with HTC, Qualcomm and Ericsson.
The company has completed what it said was the world's first connection of a 5G mid-band device anywhere in the world with a demonstration of the upcoming HTC 5G Hub mobile smart device.
The device, developed by HTC in conjunction with Telstra, is expected to be one of the first 5G devices the operator launches for customers.
The HTC 5G Hub will be a smart mobile broadband hotspot device capable of leveraging Telstra's 5G network.
Telstra also showcased a 5G smartphone prototype from ZTE and a 5G mobile hotspot prototype from Inseego, two vendors also currently testing their 5G devices with Telstra with an eye towards inclusion in the initial device line-up.
In addition, Telstra collaborated with Qualcomm and Ericsson to complete Australia's first 5G video calls, including an end-to-end 5G call between Telstra's Sydney headquarters and its 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast in the next state.
As well as the 5G demonstrations, Telstra previewed an upcoming NETGEAR 4G router it plans to launch next year, conducting a speed test demonstrating peak speeds of 2Gbps.