Telstra to trial 5G in banking sector

Australia’s Telstra has used this week’s Mobile World Congress to announce a partnership with Commonwealth Bank of Australia And Ericsson to trial 5G edge computing technologies in the financial services sector.

The three-way collaboration will involve testing end-to-end banking solutions over 5G technology in an effort to explore the future of banking.

The companies will evaluate how 5G edge computing can help reduce the network infrastructure currently required at bank branches to support high-speed transactions.

Speaking at the event, Telstra group executive for networks and IT Nikos Katinakis said 5G has the potential to transform the global financial services sector.

“5G edge computing is all about bringing the network closer to the user or application. For financial institutions like Commonwealth Bank, it will help to enhance existing banking applications as well as deliver new use cases such as artificial intelligence, all supported by a range of software defined networking solutions,” he said.

“Together with Ericsson, we are pleased to be working closely with Commonwealth Bank, an industry leader, to help them design and deliver the next generation of banking services, powered by Telstra’s 5G technology and using edge computing.”

Katinakis added that the lessons learned from the collaboration will be applicable to other industry verticals beyond financial services.