Australian incumbent Telstra has acquired additional licences in the 2.1GHz band for an undisclosed sum, enabling it to develop more than 1400 new rural and remote sites in Australia.
Michael Rocca, COO of Telstra, which currently has around 7,000 base…
Australian incumbent Telstra has acquired additional licences in the 2.1GHz band for an undisclosed sum, enabling it to develop more than 1400 new rural and remote sites in Australia.
Michael Rocca, COO of Telstra, which currently has around 7,000 base stations and claims to cover approximately 99% of Australia, said the extra licences were needed to cope with soaring demand for its 3G network.
“These new licences are fundamental to our ability to continue to meet our customers’ demand for ultra-fast, reliable wireless broadband,” said Rocca.
According to Rocca, the data carried on its network is doubling every year, and half of this traffic is driven by regional and remote users.
“Telstra forecasts that the wireless data traffic we are carrying today is a small proportion of the volumes we will be carrying in 2013,” he added.
Areas that are set to benefit from the licence gains include Hervey Bay, Queensland, Shepparton, Victoria, Forbes, NSW and Mount Gambier, South Australia.
