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Telstra today announced 4G network upgrades using Ericsson LTE technology to be completed in 2011; changes which could deliver peak speeds of 100Mbps.
The LTE upgrades will occur in metropolitan areas of Australia as well as some major unannounced regional hubs. Telstra will also extend the reach of its current 42Mbps HSPA+ services to areas not yet included in that footprint.
To complete the upgrade the telco will recycle its existing 1800MHz spectrum, which it currently uses for 2G services alongside the network’s 900MHz frequency. Reusing the 1800MHz range will allow Telstra to upgrade now rather than waiting for the government to re-provision spectrum when analog TV services are discontinued at the end of 2013.
Fragmenting the frequencies that data is delivered should also have the added benefit of freeing up network capacity on Next G’s current 850MHz band for people whose devices are not 4G ready. Telstra says that a lot of data traffic goes to mobile broadband modems and that smartphone users should benefit indirectly after the upgrade is complete.
For more information, read “Telstra plans LTE upgrade before year-end” on ZDNet Australia.
