It's official Next G goes '4G' this month

Stuart Corner
Monday, 08 August 2011 08:54

Business IT - Technology

Telstra is to launch a commercial pilot of its LTE service in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney later this month and has branded it 4G despite an edict from the ITU that LTE is not a 4G technology

Services will be available initially within 5km from the GPO in these cities. Telstra CEO, David Thodey, said that about 2000 Telstra USB LTE mobile broadband modems would be made available to business and enterprise customers from August 29 ahead of the national launch of LTE services later this year. These devices, supplied by Sierra Wireless, carry the legend "Telstra 4G".

"Telstra's 4G-enabled network is the next generation in mobile broadband and is set to offer Australians an even faster mobile connection," Thodey said. "The commercial pilot will give some of our customers a taste of the faster speeds, greater capacity and quicker response times that can be available for mobile services on 4G ahead of our national launch in major capital cities and selected regional centres later this year."

The Telstra LTE device will use dual mode LTE/3G HSPA technology enabling it to operate across the 1800MHz band of Telstra's LTE network and the 850MHz band, giving customers the benefits of LTE connectivity where it is available and switchover to HSPA technology across the rest of the Next G network.

The device will be available initially to account managed business customers in conjunction with a range of plans including for $0 upfront on the $49 Telstra Mobile Broadband Standard Plan over 24 months (minimum total cost $1,176) with 7GB included data.

Telstra is taking expressions of interest from customers who would like to be among the first to receive information about the national launch of the service in Australia. Customers can visit www.telstra.com.au/eoi/keep-informed/

Telstra announced in February that it would have LTE at 1800MHz available in capital city CBDs and major regional centres using network infrastructure from incumbent supplier Ericsson and dual LTE/HSPA USB dongles from Sierra Wireless by the end of 2011.

In May it announced that it had turned on the first, trial, base stations in its network, in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, saying it planned to launch a commercial service by the end of 2011. The company made clear at the time that additional capacity, not the higher speeds available with LTE were its main priority.

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