Telstra has begun a world-first trial of new mobile internet technology that can broadcast a single stream of data to multiple users simultaneously.
The telco began testing long-term evolution broadcast (LTE-B) technology on Monday, said Telstra's acting head of wireless network engineering, Channa Seneviratne, in a blog post.
It is the first time LTE-B has been tested live on a commercial network, he said.
The new technology is akin to the way TV stations broadcast a single program to multiple TV sets.
At present, users wanting to live stream a football match, or download the latest edition of a digital newspaper, do so via an individual data stream, which uses lots of network space.
By contrast, the new technology delivers the same data to multiple users at the same time via a single broadcast data stream.
Like other mobile network operators around the world, Telstra is grappling with how best to manage the ever-growing demand for data.
Telstra says traffic on its 4G network is rising by 23 per cent every month, and doubles roughly every three months. It currently caters to 3.2 million mobile devices.
By freeing up 4G network space, the new technology could prevent future traffic jams, Seneviratne said.
"While the 4G network is still relatively new, we need to look for solutions that will allow us to sustain this growth," he said.
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