IT’s just two years old but Telstra has sold 3.2 m 4G LTE devices

It’s two years since Telstra 4G LTE network first went live and demand is “unprecedented”.

Telstra now connects a whopping 25,000 new 4G users a week, it said yesterday, as appetite for faster Internet speeds soars.

“Since its launch, we have activated more than 3.2 million 4G devices on our 4G network,” says Group Executive Director Telstra Mobile and Wireline, Warwick Bray.  It has launched 15 new 4G devices since January, alone.

1 in 4 Telstra customers use 4G phones – only a handful of 3G phones are now available – mostly on prepay, with all tablets, dongles and hotspots hooking users to faster internet LTE services.

But 4G speeds are to get even faster, from current speeds of 2 – 50Mbps to 150Mbps by the end of the year – on mobile broadband devices, a Telstra spokesperson told CN.

This is thanks to new ‘carrier aggregation’ technology, which allocates unused 3G spectrum for 4G, allowing faster data speeds.

However, current generation of 4G phones like iPhone 5 or HTC One won’t be able to avail of these super speeds – customers will have to upgrade to the newer generation compatible with this advanced technology, which could come “at some point” in 2014.

This new technology could even see speeds of up to 300Mbps, the spokesperson said. This would be faster than promised speeds on NBN.

Telstra are now looking to expand 4G coverage to 85% of the population by Christmas, the biggest 4G network coverage in Oz. It has switched on its 2,500th 4G base station in Young, NSW to mark the 4G second birthday.

“We currently have more than 100 construction teams across the country building out our 4G network at a rate of up to 100 new sites per week,”said Telstra Executive Director Networks Mike Wright.  

“We will switch on another 1000 4G base stations by Christmas 2013 which will take 4G to 85 per cent of the population, including 300 regional towns and holiday hotspots.

Telstra said customers can expect more innovative products and service offers in the lead up to Christmas.