Unperturbed by Ovum’s comments that a major takeup of LTE is unlikely before 2014, Telstra said it would spend the next three to six months testing the feasibility and technical capability of LTE, also called 4G, for future commercialisation.
Telstra’s acting COO, Michael Rocca, said the trials will help Telstra understand how the new technology can complement the existing Next G HSPA network.
Shortly after returning from the Telstra briefing I got an email from Optus which read “I believe you attended a Telstra briefing this morning. As you will remember we made our announcement last year as part of the SingTel Group.
They pointed out at the time that Andrew Smith, Optus Mobile Director said: Optus in November 2009 announced SingTel Group affiliates LTE trial.
Optus is a significant participant in this program and will deploy its LTE trial in Sydney, NSW in the next few months. The Group initiative enables SingTel to leverage the benefits of working with multiple vendors and sharing the findings across the group Optus and SingTel will be able to assess the readiness, capability and performance of a number of leading vendors.
Telstra already has an idea of how LTE will work from trials by its Hong Kong subsidiary CSL, which switched on its 4G mobile standard last December. Local rival Optus began conducting the first LTE trials in Australia in November.
Telstra is employing longstanding network partners and rivals Ericsson, Huawei Australia and Nokia Siemens Networks for the trials that will take place in Victoria.
Rocca said LTE will eventually give consumers access to higher speeds while giving Telstra the capacity to support a wider range of applications.
Telstra hasn’t committed to an LTE rollout timeframe but a major push is unlikely before “digital dividend” spectrum freed up by the ending of analogue TV becomes available in 2013.
Observers say the move to LTE is seen as essential if carriers are to cope with increasing wireless broadband capacity demands from smartphone users.
In time LTE is claimed to enable gigabit-speed Internet access.
Shortly after returning from the Telstra briefing I got an email from Optus which read “I believe you attended a briefing this morning. As you will remember we made our announcement last year as part of the SingTel Group.
They pointed out at the time that Andrew Smith, Optus Mobile Director said: Optus in November 2009 announced SingTel Group affiliates LTE trial.
Optus is a significant participant in this program and will deploy its LTE trial in Sydney, NSW in the next few months. The Group initiative enables SingTel to leverage the benefits of working with multiple vendors and sharing the findings across the group Optus and SingTel will be able to assess the readiness, capability and performance of a number of leading vendors.
