Telstra Mining Services to deploy underground LTE network in Queensland, Australia
Telstra’s Mining Services has announced the development of an underground private LTE network for South32’s Cannington mine in North West Queensland. The network is still in the pre-deployment stage, and will initially be 6.5km in length with the potential to expand further with subsequent stages. An evaluation and integration programme has been established as part of the deployment. This programme accounts for the geology and composition of the South32 Cannington mine using LTE technology in a production-scale setting. Telstra will deploy the underground network using a private, virtualised core and LTE radio technologies distributed over leaky feeder cable using LTE-capable bi-directional amplifiers. The service is upgradeable to 5G.
Being private means that it will be a completely standalone mobile network, independent from others such as Telstra’s public network. South32 Cannington will have its own equipment, SIM cards and unique network codes. Telstra’s installation will enable access to 4G and NB-IoT. The project leverages Ericsson mobile network equipment, Telstra radio spectrum, and leaky feeder solutions from specialist manufacturer METStech.
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