CANBERRA: On New Year’s Day, Telstra and SingTel-Optus began ramping up commercial 4G mobile services that use the 700MHz electronic spectrum they bought off the federal government for $2 billion in 2013.
This means more than a million customers could soon get access to mobile broadband speeds rarely seen outside of fixed-line services such as those provided by the national broadband network as part of a spectrum arms race among the big three Telco’s.
Spectrum refers to the electronic airspace used by broadcast technologies like television and mobile broadband. Sending signals in the 700MHz band helps them stay stronger when travelling long distances and penetrating buildings, and results in better coverage.
Telstra and Optus are keen to spunk the benefits of their newest spectrum holdings for mobile customers, having spent $1.3 billion and $649 million respectively for them in May 2013 at a government auction.
Telstra said more than 600 new towns and suburbs throughout Australia would get the upgraded 4GX services from Friday, in the largest switch-on to date. This is in addition to the sites that had enjoyed early access, such as Sydney and Melbourne’s central business districts, and brings the total number of sites to more than 1000.
Telstra group managing director for networks Mike Wright said previous experience had shown about 20-30 per cent of existing 4G users would automatically switch onto the 4GX service thanks to their phones and tablets being compatible.
He also claimed customers using “category 4” devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy S4 in the switched-on areas could get speeds of up to 75 megabits per second, and newer category 6 devices such as Huawei latest mobile broadband modems can expect speeds of 100 Mbps or higher.
Optus corporate and regulatory affairs vice-president David Epstein said the Telco would switch on 270 sites throughout metropolitan and regional centres from New Year’s Day. It plans to cover 90 per cent of the Australian population by April 2015.
“During January, Optus plans to switch on 4G 700MHz on more than 1500 sites,” he said.
While Vodafone Australia did not buy any of the spectrums, it is aiming to neutralize Telstra and Opus’s advantage by recycling its existing 850MHz spectrum, which is being used by 3G services. Vodafone Australia aims to complete the migration by 2015.
The year ahead is shaping up as a critical time for Telstra, which is fighting to stave off rising competition from Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia.
