4G wars: The road to 4G for Telstra

25.10.2012
Telstra, the number one telco in Australia, has clearly led the race in the 4G war and was the first company to announce 4G plans.

Over the next two years, Telstra will invest $500 million in developing its 4G network and adding another 1000 sites to its portfolio by June next year, growing the network as more 4G compatible handsets are released. The upgrade to 4G has already been a major contributor of the telco's $3.6 billion spend in fiscal-year 2012.

However, the road to 4G has been a long one for Telstra.

In February 2010, the telco completed an upgrade of its Next G HSPA+ network with dual carrier technology in response to growing demand for wireless broadband services.

One year later in February 2011, the telco officially confirmed its plans to upgrade its network to 4G capabilities in capital cities and some regional centres by the end of 2011.

At the time, David Thodey, CEO at Telstra, said the company would operate its 4G technology in the 1800MHz spectrum, which was previously used for 2G services, and integrate it with its HSPA+ service in the 850MHz range, which was to be funded from Telstra's budget for capital expenditure.