LTE: Australia: Telstra LTE goes national.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Australian number one operator Telstra has launched the country’s first 4G LTE networks in state capital city centres and more than 30 regional and metropolitan centres.

The carrier said users in areas covered by the network can expect download speeds ranging between 2Mb/s and 40Mb/s, depending on distance from base stations and local conditions. This is 10 times faster than speeds claimed by Australian operators for 3G, according to Telstra. Upload speeds should range between 1Mb/s and 10Mb/s, a three-fold speed increase compared to existing mobile broadband.

Network latency is also expected to improve, meaning the time taken for data to travel from a PC to the network and back again, will halve. Services such as video conferencing, cloud-hosted streaming an online gaming will therefore require less buffering and suffer from fewer interruptions.

Users can access the network using a Telstra USB 4G mobile broadband modem. Consumers are able to acquire the BigPond modem for free in combination with a range of 24 month plans such as 8GB of data for AUD59.95 per month. Business customers are being offered a similar range of plans.

Telstra CEO David Thodey said the operator is working with manufacturers to bring 4G-enabled smartphones and tablets to its product portfolio in the first half of 2012. The company aims to introduce LTE technology to more than 50 additional locations by the end of the year.

“This is just the beginning. Telstra 4G will allow our mobile devices to perform even more advanced tasks and open the door to a host of innovative high-speed services that have yet to be conceived,” Thodey said.

Telstra’s LTE network has been built by Swedish vendor Ericsson with help from Qualcomm and Sierra Wireless. The first 4G LTE base stations were activated last May

This was followed in August by a commercial pilot with 2,000 USB 4G laptop modems being offered to business customers in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The modems used the 1,800Mhz 4G spectrum within 5km of the three city centres, reverting to the 850Mhz HSPA spectrum further out.

Vodafone Hutchison Australia is also planning to launch commercial LTE networks in Australia by the end of 2011.