Telstra trials LANES at the AFL Grand Final

Telstra, in conjunction with Ambulance Victoria, conducted a trial of its LANES technology at the AFL Grand Final.

Writing on the Telstra blog, Paula Rujak, general manager of Telstra’s Network Technology & Innovation division, said that it was the “culmination of months of work”.

The trial encompassed “the full Emergency Grade LTE Advanced Network for Emergency Services (LANES) capability, including access prioritisation”.

The Grand Final was a perfect occasion on which to test LANES.

“When 100,000 fans all wish to jump online, post selfies at the game, stream instant replays and comment on social media, it can make the network very congested and difficult for Emergency Services to use their data effectively among teams on site,” said Rujak.

“Our LANES technology provides a way for Emergency Services to more effectively manage their mission critical mobile broadband communications needs in times when the network may be otherwise congested.

“Our mobile network runs over a number of spectrum ‘bands’ and these bands can be viewed as a ‘lane’ on the wireless highway.

“Through LANES we can separate a portion of spectrum that our 4G network operates on and offer this to Emergency Services for their exclusive use, as well as providing priority access to the network — on the wireless highway it’s like offering Emergency Services its very own express lane.”

Rujak added that “no matter how many people are using the Telstra network in a single location (like the MCG), Emergency Services can have uninterrupted access to broadband to service mission critical cases”.

“This solution has shown us that stadiums filled to capacity are no longer an issue for Emergency Services communication via the mobile network,” said Rujak.

“It was great to be able to allow Ambulance Victoria to experience this solution working on our network.”