3 Hits 3.6Mbps In Sydney

Written by Adam Gosling

Thursday, 01 February 2007

Launching its HSDPA wireless broadband network in Sydney, mobile carrier Hutchison 3 has promised its new network speeds will reach Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and Perth by the end of March matching Telstra's Next G network speed in metropolitan areas. 3 says the 3.6Mbps-capable mobile network should deliver actual download speeds between 600Kbps to 1.5Mbps. The service is already available in the Brisbane metropolitan area where 3 mobile launched the new service last year in time for the first Ashes Test. The move to set a timetable for expansion of the HSDPA network to Adelaide Canberra and Perth could spur competitor Vodafone to gut a shuffle on rolling out its own HSDPA offering. Last October Vodafone declined to lay out a timetable to deploy HSDPA beyond Sydney and Melbourne metropolitan areas. Meanwhile, Optus, who is a co-owner in the Vodafone network has not announced any deployment of HSDPA to date. The company announced this week that it would invest up to A$800 million to build its own 3G network in regional Australia. This new network will expand Optus' 3G capabilities, but according to the announcement would only be "designed to allow a natural upgrade path" to HSDPA. This network is not scheduled to come online until early 2008. Only then will users in regional Australia have any hope of a viable competitor to Telstra which launched a massive 3G HSDPA network covering most regional and metropolitan areas. With a subscriber list of just 1 million users, the 3 network is concentrated in high density urban areas and although Vodafone has an extensive 2G network it has proved to be reluctant to invest heavily in 3G technology. Even 3, which is showing some willingness to expand the use of HSDPA, seems to be taking a cautious approach when it comes to widespread adoption of the high speed handsets. While Telstra has actively promoted its Next G network to consumers offering HSDPA capable phone such as the MotoRAZR maxx, 3's HSDPA network its targeted at mobile data users with a data card (although you can use the Dopod smartphones). Company officials have said that the carrier will begin targeting mobile HSDPA for the mass consumer market once the full national HSDPA upgrade is complete. Related news items Hybrid Drive Boosts Laptop's Skillset -10/10/2007 The Poor Man's Palm -02/10/2007 Palm Goes Consumer With Treo 500v -12/09/2007 Vodafone UK Promises All-You-Can-Hear Music -12/09/2007 Palm Deletes Foleo Folly -05/09/2007 Newer news items Mobile Rates Cut By 40% -26/02/2007 SMS Revenues To Get Stratospheric -26/02/2007 Unwired Revenue Up 46% -21/02/2007 ACCC Sets Interim Mobile Prices -18/02/2007 Telstra Behind Schedule On CDMA Migration -12/02/2007 Older news items Optus Goes Ahead With Rural 3G -29/01/2007 People Telecom To Offer 3G -22/01/2007 Voda Survey Finds Workers Ready To Get Out -02/01/2007 3 Discounts International Calls -12/12/2006 Optus Hands Out Freebies For Confused Customers -12/12/2006 Tag This Now: