Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Telstra LTE network coming by year's end

LTE and HSPA to live in harmony as Telstra adopts fourth generation standard
Telstra chief executive, David Thodey's announcement is the second time in two years the telco has used Mobile World Congress to flag significant changes to its network.

Telstra chief executive, David Thodey's announcement is the second time in two years the telco has used Mobile World Congress to flag significant changes to its network.

  • Telstra chief executive, David Thodey's announcement is the second time in two years the telco has used Mobile World Congress to flag significant changes to its network.
  • The Sierra Wireless dual-mode modem will work over both Telstra Next G networks.
View all images

Telstra is set to become the first Long Term Evolution (LTE) network operator in Australia, with plans to launch the technology publicly in all Australian capital cities and some regional centres by the end of the year.

The network will operate over the telco’s existing 1800MHz spectrum assets and will fall under the company’s Next G brand, but would not immediately replace the 3G/HSPA+ technologies currently used over the 850MHz in Australia.

Instead, Telstra is expected to continue upgrading its existing Next G network, with new HSPA+ technologies providing “4G-like” maximum downlink speeds of 84 megabits per second (Mbps).

Chief executive, David Thodey, used his keynote at Mobile World Congress in Spain this week to announce the project, which will use Ericsson over competing vendors to provide the back-end equipment.

“We see the integration of LTE technology into the Next G™ network as a way to continue to deliver high quality services and meet growing customer demand,” he said.

The telco will offer dual-mode modems (pictured) supporting both technologies by year’s end, providing similar options to current LTE deployments over carrier TeliaSonera in northern Europe.

The telco's LTE trials conducted with Ericsson last year yielded consistent speeds above 80Mbps.

Under the upgrade, Telstra will also upgrade its packet core network to suit the Internet Protocol-based LTE technology.

Telstra’s deal could effectively prove the death knell for future agreements with competing LTE vendors Huawei and Nokia Siemens, with whom the telco has also trialed the mobile broadband technology over differing bandwidths. While trials with Nokia Siemens have so far been isolated to the 2.6GHz spectrum - the only spectrum currently ratified for global roaming over LTE networks - Huawei trials to date have used the same 1800MHz bandwidth agreed to under the new Ericsson agreement. Huawei equipment scored a high of 150Mbps during tests last December.

Huawei continues to have strong trials with other Australian carriers including vividwireless, which has considered upgrading its existing WiMAX network with TD-LTE technologies for average bandwidth of between 40 and 70Mbps. Optus has managed downlink speeds peaking at 50Mbps downlink speeds over Huawei gear during its first Sydney-based trials.

Vendors including Ericsson have been reluctant to quote possible bandwidth speeds over LTE networks in real world use, instead spruiking the upgraded technology’s other benefits.

Would you choose LTE over fixed line internet access? Let us know below

Follow James Hutchinson on Twitter: @j_hutch

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Ericsson, etwork, Huawei, Nokia, Optus, Siemens, Sonera, Telstra
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: David Thodey, Ericsson, hspa, lte, next g, Telstra, Telstra chief executive David Thodey
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Fixing Your Dropbox Problem - How the Right Data Protection Strategy Can Help
    It’s estimated that more than 50 million people have used public cloud storage services such as Dropbox to share and exchange files. Public cloud services are so easy to use that their openness can undermine existing IT policies regarding the transmission of confidential data. With data volumes threatening to overwhelm onsite storage, IT managers are looking to find a solution that’s affordable and secure. This paper details a simple three-step approach to helping users manage access to the public cloud without placing your data or your business at risk. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • HP ePrint Enterprise mobile printing solution
    The merger of mobile devices and cloud services has become one of the most significant enablers of business productivity and innovation in the past decade. We now hold the power of communicating and computing in the palms of our hands, nearly anywhere business or life takes us. However, one key business process has eluded the mobility movement: printing. Even the most technically enabled business travelers find themselves hunting down print services while on the road and interrupting IT managers when visiting a branch office simply to print a document. But finally, a truly mobile print experience is available—helping enterprises to drive business productivity further. Read more.
    Learn more »
  • Customer Case Study: Yarra Valley Water Turns to Enterprise Software to Improve Information Flow
    “We don’t need to wait till month-end for management reports—they’re now available whenever we need them. We have much more efficient management, as everyone across the organization is looking at the same set of figures. Read on.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments