UPDATED: 4G in Australia: The state of the nation

Updated 20 May 2013: The top three Australian carriers are spending billions upgrading their networks to high-speed 4G LTE services. Rollout of new plans is expected to intensify through the year.

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Australian government misses $1 billion in Digital Dividend auction

Telstra 4G

The No. 1 telco currently has a head start on 4G rollout, having launched LTE services in September 2011. In February, the telco reported that it has connected 1.5 million 4G devices.

The Telstra 4G network is currently available in 100 metropolitan and regional locations, including all capital CBDs. Telstra has said its network covers 40 per cent of Australia’s population. Telstra said it will cover two-thirds of the population by mid-2013 after it doubles coverage in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Telstra operates frequency-division (FD) LTE on the 1800 MHz spectrum band. Building out the 4G LTE network was a major piece of Telstra’s $3.6 billion spend in fiscal-year 2012. Over the next two years, Telstra has said it plans to invest $500 million, including on its mobile network.

Telstra spent $1.3 billion in April's Digital Dividend auction, taking most of the 700MHz and 2.5GHz spectrum available. It bought 2x20MHz of the 700MHz spectrum and 2x40MHz of the 2.5GHz. The spectrum is expected to increase the carrier's 4G coverage and capacity.

In February, Telstra announced plans to refarm low-frequency 900MHz spectrum for 4G. The telco is testing that first in north Brisbane and considering deployments in other regional areas. When they are released in the future, 4G devices supporting LTE Advanced will be able to combine the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands for extra capacity.

Telstra is also currently testing LTE Broadcast technology, which would allow the telco to broadcast one video stream to multiple people at the same time. That approach would be more efficient than the current method in which video is streamed separately to each customer.

Some analysts say Telstra’s early rollout of LTE likely will keep the telco ahead of the competition. “With accelerated investment in the LTE network, we believe Telstra’s mobile rivals will find it difficult to challenge Telstra’s network superiority,” Ovum analyst David Kennedy said recently. “They will need to pursue strategies as `alternative’ providers to Telstra.”

Next page: Optus and Vodafone 4G

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