Farmers call to action on CDMA

THE National Farmers Federation has made an urgent call to its members for feedback on coverage in the bush of Telstra’s new 3G network – and stands ready to fight the CDMA closure if coverage proves patchy.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy will make a decision by January 21 on whether to allow Telstra to close its CDMA network – which is used predominantly in rural and regional areas.

Telstra wants to shut the network down on January 28. But Telstra’s licensing conditions state that the company must continue to operate the CDMA network until its 3G coverage is “equivalent or better” that CDMA.

Senator Conroy this week received a report on Telstra 3G network coverage from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). He says he still wants to hear feedback from users before making the decision.

The issue is shaping to be the first big test of Senator Conroy since the election. On the one hand, Telstra is applying pressure to be allowed to switch off CDMA because it will save the company millions.

On the other, the NFF – and people in regional areas generally – are wary of the switch, and are already annoyed that the consultation process has been hampered by a lack of 3G network hardware.

As late as last month, the NFF was lobbying Government to force Telstra to keep the CDMA network operational. It is a conducting a new survey of its membership to see things had improved.

“Realistically, farmers haven’t had much time to get, and test, the new hardware to know whether 3G is up to scratch – especially with the Christmas period and other priorities... i.e. for those farmers able to get a crop during the current drought, they’ve been busy harvesting,” the NFF said in a statement.

“We are now re-surveying farmers – through our member organisations – to assess not only 3G coverage, but the service, given the new hardware is now available.”

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Optus appoints Huawei

OPTUS has appointed Huawei and Nokia Siemens as its vendors of choice in its accelerated roll out of its nationwide 3G/ HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network.

The company said it would use a combination of 900MHz and 2100MHz frequency ranges, and when complete the network will cover 96 per cent of the population – replicating the Optus 2G network. The 900MHz range will be used primarily in rural and regional Australia.

Optus chief executive Paul O’Sullivan said the company had completed its network upgrade in all capital cities to 3G/HSPA. The first phase of the extended upgrade is also complete, with areas in Newcastle and Wollongong already in service.

“Through our national deployment, more Australians will have access to a competitive, high quality, high speed network and will be able to choose from our array of product plans and flexible pricing,” Mr O'Sullivan said.

“Our 3G/HSPA network currently reaches 60 percent of the population, will reach around 80 percent of the population by June 2008 and is set for completion by December 2008 - 18 months ahead of schedule,” he said.


Mr O'Sullivan said Optus had adopted a multi-vendor strategy for mobile network deployments to drive better competitive and technical outcomes.

“As a result, we have awarded Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks to deliver the radio network infrastructure required for this extensive roll out,” he said.

Optus customers using the 3G/HSPA network will have access to improved speeds, of up to 3.6Mbps, on Optus Wireless Broadband modems and enabled mobile phones. They will see significant improvement in time to download and upload videos, music, maps and user generated content on their laptops and phones.

“The 900MHz range for 3G/HSPA is perfectly suited to the Australian landscape. Using this frequency, radio signals have a greater range – giving better quality and wider coverage across sparsely populated rural and remote areas,” Mr O'Sullivan said.

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