5G CONTINUES EXPANDING

Telstra is planning to deliver 5G services across 75 per cent of the population by June next year, in a bid to build a decisive lead over its rivals.

The company’s CEO, Andrew Penn, has outlined the telco’s 5G rollout and coverage plans, in which he revealed that most of the population will be able to access 5G services over the next year:

“With 5G critical to Australia’s future prosperity, the good news is Telstra is a global leader in this new technology. Our 5G network already covers around one-third of the population.”

Today I am pleased to announce that we intend to extend that to 75% of the population by June next year.”

His announcement followed Telstra’s March pledge that enabled an accelerated 5G roll out during coronavirus lockdowns. The company brought forward $500 million of capital expenditure planned for the second half of 2021 to increase capacity and expand operations.

Telstra’s 5G is already rolling out in 53 cities and regional towns across Australia, with the telco revealing over 600 suburbs have now reached network coverage of 50 per cent.

Telstra launched its first 5G device in May 2019. They also confirmed that customers would become the “first in the world” to purchase and deploy 5G wireless network edge solutions.

“This investment means we have been able to accelerate our roll out of 5G, while injecting much-needed investment into the Australian economy at this time,” Penn added.

He said the telco would be ‘inviting’ eligible customers to shift to the new plans before the end of September, and if they do so, they will receive 12 months of credit to make plan differences.

Not only are Telstra pushing forward with the controversial expansion of 5G, the company is also running new online campaigns to ensure any opposition or dissent is ridiculed and targeted.

ON THE DEFENSIVE

Telstra is currently attempting to ‘debunk’ conspiracy theories about 5G on their platforms, including the claim that it causes COVID-19 symptoms, with help from comedian Mark Humphries.

The content series is currently appearing across social media in a direct effort to counter ‘misinformation’ about 5G spreading on these platforms.

In the series, Humphries makes reference to this, comparing Facebook to the Dark Web, and making light of what he describes as ‘cliched middle-aged relatives’ sharing fake news on social media:

Humphries and Telstra’s electromagnetic energy ‘expert’, Mike Wood, have been putting in their two cents about the theories, making it clear that “viruses cannot travel on radio waves or mobile networks” because “if they could, someone would have weaponised Smooth FM years ago”.

Hilarious.

Future installments will also cover ‘conspiracy theories’ surrounding the testing process 5G has undergone, 5G’s damage to DNA and the environment and much more.

A recent inquiry into 5G technology found community confidence in 5G has been ‘shaken’ by extensive “misinformation that preys on the fears of the public spread via the internet, particularly through social media”.

This sentiment echoes previous calls by telecommunications giants for assistance to combat public backlash, with the government announcing a $9 million campaign to help ‘combat’ disinformation.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher assured Telstra that it is “backing high-speed 5G mobile network rollout plans” amid signs of community backlash against the technology. 

Let’s not forget Fletcher is a former telecommunications director himself.

Combined with recent hit pieces on 60 Minutes and A Current Affair, it seems Australians are finally getting a taste of what the money was and will be spent on.

After all, 5G is the single most important component of the fourth industrial revolution, which will serve as the launching pad towards an era of technocratic, transhumanism control.

Even Telstra’s CEO alluded to this importance and the role 5G will serve in his open letter.

THE FUTURE OF 5G

More than 210,000 5G services are already connected to the Telstra network and this is only set to increase as the digital revolution continues across the world.

In the future, an interconnected web of systems will all be underpinned by this emerging technology, allowing for unprecedented scopes of power and capabilities. 

In his letter, Penn highlighted the economic and technological gains of 5G, in addition to the growing benefits highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting international lockdowns:

“Linking up with friends and family, work, school and accessing services has all had to be done digitally during COVID-19 and our recovery will depend on accelerating the digital economy.”

Problem, reaction, solution. Right before your eyes, folks. Not only has 5G accelerated the building of a digital dystopia, but it must now continue as a means to save Australia from COVID-19 turmoil.

Some of the major advancements that will be made by 5G technology have been listed on their site:

Penn claims: “5G will take the activities we have all had to suddenly grow used to doing digitally during COVID — telehealth, working and studying from home, eCommerce — to a whole new level.”

Telstra is even labelling this technological transition as the “brave new virtual world”:

How obvious can it get? I’ll say it again: COVID-19(84) = Birth of a Brave New World.

The future of wireless technology holds the promise of total connectivity. Key word, total. This means it will be especially susceptible to cyberattacks and surveillance.

Not only will 5G power the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the technology will also undermine the democratic principles on which Australia was founded, gravely harming individual rights to privacy, anonymity and protection from having personal information collected.

The effectiveness, scope and efficiency of 5G technologies will allow the Australian government to extend metadata collection abilities to closer proximities and in more intrusive ways.

What is existential to democracy is allowing totalitarian regimes — or any authority — full knowledge of everything you do at all times. Because the tendency is always going to be to want to regulate how you think, how you act, what you do. History has shown us this time and time again.

The problem is that most people don’t think very hard about what that world would look like.

Until it has manifested before their eyes.

RELATED CONTENT

5G will shape the 2020s: an update on Telstra’s progress — Telstra Exchange

Telstra to extend 5G footprint despite takeup concerns — Sydney Morning Herald

Navigating our brave new virtual world — Telstra Exchange

Virus being used to accelerate 5G rollout — TOTT News

COVID-19(84): Birth of a Brave New World — TOTT News

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