Telstra, CBA and Ericsson to explore “bank branch of the future”
The new collaboration will look into 5G use cases for the financial services industry.
In an industry first, use cases of 5G edge computing technologies will be explored and trialled for the financial services sector in a new collaboration between Telstra, CommBank and Ericsson. The trials are expected to show what the bank of the future might look like, with the technology expected to simplify the network operations and complexity required at individual bank branches.
The announcement was made as part of the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. Telstra's group executive networks & IT Nikos Katinakis saying 5G has the potential to transform the financial services sector and deliver innovation in a faster and more efficient way.
"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," Katinakis said.
The collaboration will see CommBank, Telstra and Ericsson come together over the next few months to explore use cases and test 5G coverage solutions that can provide more flexibility for bank operations and locations.
"These real-world trials will provide valuable lessons and insights for Telstra, our customers, and vendor partners as we continue to deploy 5G," said Katinakis. "They will also help us understand which use cases will best serve our customers and have the greatest monetisation potential. The learnings on 5G and edge computing will be used across a broad range of industries."
Pete Steel, CommBank executive general manager of digital and retail operations and technology said the bank was excited to be working with Telstra and Ericsson to test and learn 5G and edge computing.
"These technologies have significant potential to enhance the availability, stability and performance of our network infrastructure and we hope they can help us provide quicker and better digital experiences for our customers."
The announcement comes as part of a series of 5G-related news from Telstra. This includes Telstra announcing it will replace Telstra customers' Galaxy S10+ phones with the 5G Galaxy S10 for free, and that it will also stock another 5G device, the LG V50 ThinQ.
"These trials between three industry leaders mark another important milestone in the nation's 5G technology development, ensuring Australia remains at the cutting edge of mobile technology," said Katinakis.
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