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TELSTRA TO DEPLOY NEW 3G GSM NETWORK |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Tuesday, 15 November 2005 |
Telstra Plans to Switch off its CDMA network and replace it with an advanced 3G GSM network to be built as part of a massive network overhaul costing as much as $14 billion over five years.
The network will be placed with a GSM-based 3G network from Ericsson. The Telstra Chief Operations Officer, Greg Winn, who described himself as Telstra’s plumber, said the current CDMA network was four times more expensive per user to run than its GSM network and that new 3G technologies could now deliver better services to regional Australia.
The new network will allow for broadband wireless in regional areas offering a greater range of services in the bush.
Because the Ericsson network uses the lower 850Mhz frequency band, the range is far greater than traditional 3G services. However, the new standard is based on speicalised equipment and handsets which are not yet readily available.
He said the company’s existing CDMA customers will be given a migration path to equivalent of better services and the old network will not be switched off until the new 3G GSM network is fully operational.
Earlier, Chief Operating Offices Sol Trujillo had shown a complex diagram outlining how the Telstra networks had grown in an incremental fashion over the years resulting in a fragmented set of silo's which offered few possibilities for integration.
Winn's job is to re-build the network in a fashion that will promote the provision of integrated services at a lower cost than it does today.
"We have let this network become more complicated than it needs to be," said Winn. It adds cost, reduces reliability and impacts customer satisfaction he continued. The second major component of the network transformation will be to change the IP transmission capabilities of the company. Winn said the current environment doesn't support the vision of simplifying customers.
The company also plans to cut its multiple data networks using protocols such as X25 and frame relay and replace them all with a TCP/IP network to carry all voice and data traffic. Winn said Telstra is committed to reducing the number of vendors it works with to build a new network core based on TCP/IP. The new network will be faster and more cost effective and will focus on buying solutions rather than the past practice of building its won, he said.
As a result as much as 80per cent of the company’s existing network systems will be switched off.
In the voice area the company plans to install high capacity soft switches which will allow it to decommission 116 "expensive and complex to run" class five switches across the capital cities. Voice over broadband will be a part of the new network.
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