Telstra launches turbo charged 21Mbps Next G in Barcelona

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 17 February 2009 00:35

IT Industry - Market

Ahead of today's scheduled Australian launch, Telstra yesterday announced its world first 21Mbps mobile broadband service at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. In making the announcement, Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo shared the stage with the bosses of some of the world's telecoms heavyweights.

The CEOs of Telstra, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Sierra Wireless jointly announced a new 21Mbps peak rated mobile broadband modem, Telstra Turbo 21, would be available to customers on Telstra’s HSPA+ Nect G network on 23 February. Telstra promises that peak network speeds will increase to 42Mbps later this year.
 
Speaking during the announcement, Telstra's Trujillo said for the first time a mobile network would bring a true real-time broadband experience to customers.
 
“In just over two years, we have taken our world leading network from peak network speeds of 3.6Mbps to 21Mbps and today we are launching the world’s first commercial 21Mbps peak-rated modem – more than three times faster than devices currently in market,” Mr Trujillo said.
 
“Using the new 21Mbps rated devices, a high quality x-ray image can be downloaded by a doctor in about 15 seconds - the potential cost and time savings across the health care industry are extraordinary. A consumer can access and download an mp3 song in just four seconds or a YouTube video in just six seconds. Some of our business customers are already seeing productivity uplifts of up to 30 per cent in parts of their workforces from the Next G network by cutting travel costs and saving time.
 
“With 21Mbps rated network and devices, we expect to see business productivity increase even further at a time when business and governments need to find practical ways to lift economies out of recession and do more with less.”
 
Telstra claims that the success of the Next G network in Australia has seen the carrier achieve world leading results, with 3G penetration growing by 19 percentage points to 54% at the end of December 2008, while maintaining a 3G vs 2G post-paid ARPU differential in excess of AUD$20. Data accounted for 36% of mobile services retail revenue over the same period.
 
In Telstra’s consumer segments, post-paid value-added services grew by 19%, while pre-paid value-added services grew by 23%, according to Telstra.

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