Vodafone cosies up to Crazy John’s and chooses Ericsson for HSPA

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 10 March 2008 19:38

IT Industry - Market

Of course we could well see 14.4Mbps class devices by the end of the year, which would operate at even faster speeds, but if that’s the case, we’ll see them from Telstra and Optus, too.
                              
Vodafone and Ericsson say they will “deploy network engineering teams in all states and territories simultaneously to ensure more Vodafone customers in regional and rural Australia can enjoy the benefits of HSPA mobile broadband coverage this year”.

Their statement continues: “In addition to upgrading all Vodafone 2G sites to 3.5G (HSPA), a significant proportion of high-demand sites in metropolitan areas covered by the Vodafone and Optus joint venture HSPA network sharing agreement will be upgraded to provide higher specification mobile data transmission.”
 
Russell Hewitt, CEO at Vodafone Australia, said: "Australians deserve better mobile broadband services, and we think it's time for Vodafone to provide greater competition for the benefit of customers in our regional cities and towns. In addition to benefiting regional Australia, our national network upgrade will deliver significant increases in upload and download speeds for urban customers travelling outside the cities."
 
Hewitt continued: "Today's announcement is good news for residential customers looking for an alternative to fixed line internet connections and great news for business people who need mobile broadband access to the internet, email and server-based information in more areas of Australia.”
 
In reference to Australia’s size, a challenge Telstra has already faced with its Next G rollout, Hewitt says that: “Australia is a big country, so we've taken a pragmatic approach to our mobile broadband network investment and rollout."

Hewitt continued that: "We're upgrading our network in a way that enables Vodafone to maintain good cost control and consistently market great value deals to our customers. Vodafone's national mobile broadband upgrade will change the way many more Australians look at their mobile phones and laptops."
 
Vodafone expects their network will deliver mobile broadband 95% of the population, or as Vodafone puts it “95 per cent of the areas where Australians live and work”.

So, what about even faster speeds for the Vodafone network, especially with Telstra planning a 21Mbps network by the end of the year, when Vodafone will only have completed its 14.4Mbps network, with Telstra promising 42Mbps by the of 2009? Please read onto page 3.