SYDNEY – Looking for some applause, Telstra says its eyebrow-raising public WI-FI system has been tested by more than 700,000 users since CEO David Thodey launched the $100 million network trial in November. (It hasn’t said how many it has retained as regular users.)
In the same period, the network – which currently consists of more than 1000 hotspots – has been used to transmit some 140 terabytes of data, Telstra claims.
Telstra has been running the trial at selected sites in major capital CBDs as a free service, but says it plans to start imposing charges to access the network after its commercial launch later this year.
“To date the trial has validated many of our network design assumptions. We don’t expect to make any major design changes for the full rollout at this time,” said Telstra spokesman Steve Carey.
