Telstra has become the first Australian operator to launch LTE services, although the initial deployment appears to be limited. LTE base stations have been activated in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane, with LTE data being sent over the network “for the first time outside of field trials.” The launch is one of the world’s first deployments of LTE in the 1800MHz spectrum band, made possible as eighty percent of Telstra’s mobile customers have migrated to the company’s Next G network (based on HSPA technology using the 850MHz band), enabling the reuse of the 1800MHz spectrum previously used to deliver 2G mobile services. “With more than a million mobile and wireless broadband customers joining Telstra in the past 12 months, and data usage on the Next G network doubling every year, the increased network capacity LTE will provide is vital,” said Mike Wright (pictured), executive director, Telstra Networks & Access Technologies.

There’s no word yet on what devices will support this initial launch, or service pricing. Telstra plans to upgrade its existing Next G network with LTE technology in the central business districts of all Australian capital cities “and selected regional centres” by the end of this year. The operator said that by the end of the year it will sell dual-mode LTE/HSPA+ dongles from Sierra Wireless (using Qualcomm chipsets) operating across 1800MHz and 850MHz spectrum bands. It’s not known when Telstra will offer LTE handsets. Swedish infrastructure vendor Ericsson is building the LTE network. Telstra’s rival Vodafone Hutchison Australia also plans to launch commercial LTE services later this year.