Optus: Telstra “threatened” by our rapid network expansion

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 28 August 2008 19:54

IT Industry - Strategy

After Telstra’s indignant response to Optus’ claims that it’s now able to go “head to head” with Telstra’s Next G network, Optus has hit back saying that it’s simply getting on with the job and that Telstra is “threatened”.

The war of wireless words continues flying through the ether between Australia’s dominant telco, Telstra, and its original competitor, Optus.

Telstra blasted Optus’ claims that its 85% population coverage is of any consequence compared with Telstra’s 99% population coverage, which we covered in an article entitled ‘Telstra challenges “ludicrous” Optus to get “independent audit”’.

Telstra said Optus is yet to hit 1 million square kilometres of coverage when Telstra already covers 2 million square kilometres today, and savaged Optus’ “ludicrous” claims that its current 2008 network build out meant it was better able to cater to today’s population areas, as opposed to those which existed when the Next G network was originally built.

In response, Telstra noted that: “It’s ludicrous to suggest we don't monitor demand and population changes and make adjustments to our network to account for it – it's part and parcel of running a world class network.”

Telstra also said that Optus’ current network peaks at 3.6Mbps, while the Next G network supports 14.4Mbps today, will run at 21Mbps by the end of 2008, and has in the past noted that it will upgrade Next G to 42Mbps by the end of 2009.

My original article questioned whether Optus would stay at 3.6Mbps or if it would be upgraded as Telstra’s has been, so I contacted Optus to find out, and surprise, surprise – they have hit back at Telstra’s claims.

An Optus spokesperson said: “The Optus 3g network is delivering speeds of up to 3.6mbps.

“The network is currently being upgraded to deliver broadband speeds of up to 7.2, and we do have plans to increase speeds and the timing of future upgrades is linked to device availability.”

So, Optus is upgrading their network to support faster speeds as expected, but Telstra is correct in saying that Optus peaks at 3.6Mbps, if we’re talking about right now.

That still makes it slower than Telstra’s network, which has devices compatible with the 7.2Mbps standard already available, but faster speeds are coming.

What else did Optus have to say in response to Telstra’s wireless wrath? Please read on to page 2.