The Australian unit of British mobile operator Vodafone has agreed a deal with the Australian telecoms regulator to strengthen its spectrum holdings in the 1.8GHz band.
In a statement, Vodafone said that it had made arrangements with the Australian…
The Australian unit of British mobile operator Vodafone has agreed a deal with the Australian telecoms regulator to strengthen its spectrum holdings in the 1.8GHz band.
In a statement, Vodafone said that it had made arrangements with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on the exchange and reallocation of spectrum blocks with the railway services in three states (New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria).
Vodafone Australia’s CEO, Nigel Dew, said: “We have now organised our spectrum into contiguous blocks in mainland capital cities that will support the rollout of LTE in all capital cities, once mass market handsets and mobile broadband devices are available at mass market prices.”
Vodafone said earlier in the year that it had begun installing LTE-ready equipment as part of a network investment plan. It also undertook LTE trials in the 1.8GHz band with Huawei in 2010, which achieved download speeds of 73Mbps.
The Vodafone brand in Australia is operated by Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA).
VHA is a 50:50 JV between Vodafone Group and Hutchison Telecommunications Australia, which has Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa as its majority shareholder.
