World's Largest Mobile Broadband Network Launches in Australia

World's Largest Mobile Broadband Network Launches in Australia

October 06, 2006

First HSDPA Network Launched Across Rural and Urban
Australia - Three Months Ahead of Schedule

    LONDON, Oct. 6 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Australia has
joined the rapidly growing list of countries with live 3G
HSDPA high speed mobile networks, following Telstra's
nationwide service launch today -- three months ahead of
schedule. The launch across Australia illustrates the pace
with which mobile can be deployed to deliver broadband
connectivity for both urban and rural users.

    Telstra's HSDPA network -- the world's largest network
of its type -- has been rolled out in the 850MHz frequency
band to cover over one quarter of Australia's landmass and
more than 98 per cent of the population. It was achieved in
just ten months from a standing start.

    "This is a tremendous feat of engineering,
demonstrating the versatility of the technology to reach
across both metros and vast regional geographies,"
said Rob Conway, CEO of The GSM Association. "Scaling
across one of the world's most challenging environments,
this launch is positive proof that the most cost-effective
and efficient way to bring high speed Internet access and
other media rich services to remote rural areas is to
exploit the massive investment in wireless networks already
made by the global mobile industry," he added.

    For mobile users, broadband provides fast access to a
wide range of new, added-value and media-rich applications
and services. Business users can look forward to high-speed
Internet access and rapid download of emails with
attachments as well as access to audio and video services.
Consumers will enjoy full-motion video and advanced
multi-player games, rapid downloading of high-resolution
digital images, and CD quality music downloads.

    HSDPA is a software upgrade for 3G that will deliver up
to 5 times the data rates of standard 3GSM (W-CDMA). Of the
123 commercial 3GSM mobile networks live in 55 countries,
more than half are HSDPA enabled today. In total 121
networks across 55 countries have committed to deploying
HSDPA.  

    Australia is the thirty-ninth country to go live with
the technology and Telstra the sixty-fourth network to
commence HSDPA based commercial services. By utilising the
850 MHz frequency band, Telstra will be able to offer high
data rate capabilities over a wide geographic area using
W-CDMA plus HSDPA. Users will also benefit from the
automatic global roaming capabilities offered by the GSM
family of technologies.

    More than 58 HSDPA-enabled devices have now been
launched by 18 suppliers, according to the GSA -- which
represents global mobile industry manufacturers. Sixteen of
these devices will operate in the 850 MHz frequency band, in
support of network deployments such as Telstra's in
Australia, Cingular in the US and Rogers Wireless in
Canada, as well as potentially many more markets in the
Americas, Asia and elsewhere.

    "Unprecedented economies of scale and a rich seam
of experience in global mobile network planning and
deployment have been integral to making this launch
economically, commercially and technically possible in such
a short time span," said Conway. "It is hard to
see how this could have been achieved by any other
communication technology."

    About The GSM Association:
    The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade
association representing more than 690 GSM mobile phone
operators across 214 countries of the world. In addition,
more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the
Association's initiatives as key partners.

    The primary goals of the GSMA are to ensure mobile
phones and wireless services work globally and are easily
accessible, enhancing their value to individual customers
and national economies, while creating new business
opportunities for operators and their suppliers. The
Association's members serve more than two billion customers
-- 82% of the world's mobile phone users.

    CONTACT: 

    The GSM Association 
    Mark Smith, 
    Tel:   [phone], 
    David Pringle, 
    Tel:   [phone]
    Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  The GSM Association