A Satellite Small Cell antenna installed in a remote location in Australia. Photo Credit: Telstra

Telstra has launched the Telstra 4GX-lite Mobile Satellite Small Cell, a new solution to help people living and working in some of Australia’s most remote places purchase their own coverage extension of the Telstra 4GX mobile service. According to the company, the first customer is already on board, with a heads of agreement in place with Queensland’s Winton Shire Council to install two Satellite Small Cells to improve coverage at a tourism hotspot and a remote town.

The Telstra 4GX-lite Mobile Satellite Small Cell is a smaller, lower cost version of a standard mobile base station, giving customers access to Telstra’s 4GX-lite service which delivers voice calls, text, email, messaging, social media posts, browsing and basic data. The Satellite Small Cell has been designed to meet the needs of remote communities and customers from rural farmers and mining companies to local councils who want to bring mobile coverage to new areas. Telstra aims to deliver up to 500 Satellite Small Cells over the next three years, and is discussing the opportunity to deploy this technology with a number of organizations and customers.

The Satellite Small Cell is funded by co-contributions from Telstra and the customer, where the customer pays an initial amount to cover the cost of installation and Telstra builds and maintains the small cell.