UPDATED: 4G in Australia: The state of the nation
- 20 May, 2013 13:50
- Comments 7
Updated 20 May 2013: The top three Australian carriers are spending billions upgrading their networks to high-speed 4G LTE services. Rollout of new plans is expected to intensify through the year.
Also see:
How fast are HSPA+ and LTE in Australia?
Australian government misses $1 billion in Digital Dividend auction
Telstra 4G
The No. 1 telco currently has a head start on 4G rollout, having launched LTE services in September 2011. In February, the telco reported that it has connected 1.5 million 4G devices.
The Telstra 4G network is currently available in 100 metropolitan and regional locations, including all capital CBDs. Telstra has said its network covers 40 per cent of Australia’s population. Telstra said it will cover two-thirds of the population by mid-2013 after it doubles coverage in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
Telstra operates frequency-division (FD) LTE on the 1800 MHz spectrum band. Building out the 4G LTE network was a major piece of Telstra’s $3.6 billion spend in fiscal-year 2012. Over the next two years, Telstra has said it plans to invest $500 million, including on its mobile network.
Telstra spent $1.3 billion in April's Digital Dividend auction, taking most of the 700MHz and 2.5GHz spectrum available. It bought 2x20MHz of the 700MHz spectrum and 2x40MHz of the 2.5GHz. The spectrum is expected to increase the carrier's 4G coverage and capacity.
In February, Telstra announced plans to refarm low-frequency 900MHz spectrum for 4G. The telco is testing that first in north Brisbane and considering deployments in other regional areas. When they are released in the future, 4G devices supporting LTE Advanced will be able to combine the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands for extra capacity.
Telstra is also currently testing LTE Broadcast technology, which would allow the telco to broadcast one video stream to multiple people at the same time. That approach would be more efficient than the current method in which video is streamed separately to each customer.
Some analysts say Telstra’s early rollout of LTE likely will keep the telco ahead of the competition. “With accelerated investment in the LTE network, we believe Telstra’s mobile rivals will find it difficult to challenge Telstra’s network superiority,” Ovum analyst David Kennedy said recently. “They will need to pursue strategies as `alternative’ providers to Telstra.”
Next page: Optus and Vodafone 4G
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Comments
Nimos
1
and NBN Co?
They are also deploying 4G TD-LTE.
Jeremy
2
When are Telstra going to move to an Apple compatible 4G though?
Walter Leiska
3
I will not move to Telstra 4G network until I can use Apple products.
Steven
4
The iPhone 5 already works on Telstra 4G and the new 4th gen iPad will too (cellular models due late November). The only Apple "4G" product that doesn't work is the third gen iPad, due to the limited set of frequencies it supports for LTE. They have the same problem in the UK. The supported frequencies on the iPad 3 were basically selected to suit the US market, not the rest of the world.
john
5
Optus also has 4G in Adelaide CBD
Dennis
6
"When are Telstra going to move to an Apple compatible 4G though?"
Yeah, when are they going to re do their whole network for one model of Ipad?!
Come on Telstra, you should invest billions to make the apple clones happy!
Nathan
7
This post isn't really true to the fact. Optus has reported faster 4G speeds and has the largest 4G metro footprint in the country. Voda may have 20 mhz of Spectrum. It doesn't count as being anywhere near the spectrum available to Telstra and also Optus who hasn't even touched their 2300 spectrum with 98mhz untapped! Let's research a little better next time.