Australia’s largest operator Telstra has used its newly-acquired 1.8GHz spectrum to add 200 sites in North Queensland and South Australia to boost its 4G capacity and increase peak network speeds to a theoretical 300-600Mb/s.

Telstra invested AUD191 million ($143 million) to secure 57 blocks of spectrum in the 1.8GHz band during the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) auction in February. This acquisition added to the purchase of 700MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum for AUD1.3 billion in the 2013 digital dividend auctions.

“This latest investment, at least doubles, and in some places triples, the amount of spectrum in the 1.8GHz band that we may use to provide 4G services,” said Telstra group MD of networks Mike Wright (pictured below).
Telstra Wright
“As we obtain full access to the spectrum we purchased at auction, we will deliver the 4G speed boosts to customers in other areas, including Canberra, Darwin, Dubbo, Albury and Tasmania.”

Wright said Telstra has expanded 4G coverage to reach 98 per cent of the population, with plans to reach 99 per cent of the population by the end of June 2017.

“The extra spectrum creates more 4G capacity – helping meet customers’ growing demand for mobile data – and when combined with our holdings of 700MHz deployed at many of the same sites, it becomes part of our 4GX service supporting even faster speeds for customers with 4GX devices,” he said.

Telstra has a 51.5 per cent market share, with 63 per cent of its nearly 16 million customers on 4G plans, according to GSMA Intelligence.