Vodafone 4G Arrives 2013, HSPA+ this September
- 26 June, 2012 15:15
- Comments 1
Vodafone has targeted the end of the year to complete rollout of its new mobile network supporting HSPA+ and 4G LTE. The carrier said the $1 billion, 2-year investment would result in better mobile coverage, increased data speeds and better network reliability.
Vodafone Hutchison Australia will turn on 3G+ (dual carrier - High Speed Packet Access+) in “selected metropolitan areas” this September and start rolling out LTE “in selected areas from 2013.” The telco will confirm exact timing of the LTE rollout “after working through the required tender process and contract negotiations,” it said.
Also by year end, Vodafone said it would install new transmission equipment and upgrade thousands of its base station connections to IPv6.
Vodafone has completed rolling out the new network in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Canberra, it said. “Vodafone reports significant improvements in the performance metrics it uses to assess customers’ call quality and continuity of smartphone, tablet and mobile broadband data sessions in all upgraded states and territories.”
Deploying the network in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne is in progress, Vodafone said. The carrier aims to finish the upgrades “to all sites on the Eastern Seaboard later this year.”
Customers’ current mobile phones, tablets and mobile broadband devices will work with the new, higher-speed network, Vodafone said. Coverage will be further enhanced by a proposed joint venture with Optus, covering 96 per cent of the Australian population starting April next year, the carrier said.
“Vodafone went through a very severe period of customer loss because the network wasn’t performing adequately,” Gartner analyst, Geoff Johnson, told Computerworld Australia. This latest announcement “is one of several periodic attempts that you’re going to see now to soothe the nerves of the market.”
Vodafone “can never move fast enough to recover [its] lost reputation,” Johnson said. Fixing “the reputation is going to take a period of probably a year or two beyond when the network’s technically complete.”
The new network brings much-needed improvements to the Vodafone network, making the carrier more competitive with market leader Telstra, which already has 4G, Telsyte analyst, Chris Coughlin, said. Vodafone has 30 MHz of spectrum in the 800 MHz band, twice as much as each Telstra and Optus. That wealth of spectrum could allow Vodafone to roll out LTE at higher speeds and with greater capacity than its competitors, he said.
Vodafone has had a “challenging couple years” integrating the Vodafone and Hutchison networks while building a new, faster network, Coughlin said.
Vodafone announced the network upgrade one day after an Optus official revealed a $2 billion investment in 4G. In an ironic twist, Vodafone customers in six states experienced data outages earlier in the day.
Follow Adam Bender on Twitter: @WatchAdam
Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU
Recommended
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Why change management doesn’t work
-
Larry Page wants to see your medical records
-
Dual-Persona Smartphones Not a BYOD Panacea
-
After two-year hiatus, EFF accepts bitcoin donations again
-
CIOs struggle to deliver timely mobile business apps: survey
-
The Power of Cloud
Although cloud is widely recognized as a technology game changer, its potential for driving business innovation remains virtually untapped. To take advantage of cloud’s potential to transform internal operations, customer relationships and industry value chains, organisations need to determine how best to employ cloud-enabled business models that promote sustainable competitive advantage. Learn more about driving business model innovation. -
Deploying Flash in the Enterprise
Flash is quickly emerging as the preferred way to overcome the nagging performance limitations of hard disk drives. However, because flash comes at a significant price premium, outright replacement of HDDs with flash only makes sense in situations in which capacity requirements are relatively small and performance requirements are high. Learn how deployment approaches-including hybrid storage arrays, server flash, and all-flash arrays-that combine the performance of flash with the capacity of HDDs can be cost effective for a broad range of performance requirements. -
Spear-Phishing Email: Most Favored APT Attack Bait
This research paper presents findings on APT-related spear phishing from February to September 2012. We analysed APT-related spear-phishing emails collected throughout this period to understand and mitigate attacks. The information we gathered not only allowed us to obtain specific details on spear phishing but also on targeted attacks. We found, for instance, that 91% of targeted attacks involve spear-phishing emails, reinforcing the belief that spear phishing is a primary means by which APT attackers infiltrate target networks.
Get exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis. 
Comments
jockey
1
Good to about it