Australian telecommunications firm Telstra has switched on its first LTE base stations in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane. The company said data has been sent over the network for the first time outside of field trials. Telstra announced in February this year it would upgrade its existing Next G (HSPA+) network with LTE technology in the central business districts of all capital cities and selected regional centres by the end of 2011. Some 80 percent of Telstra's mobile customers have migrated to the Next G network, enabling the reuse of the 1800 MHz spectrum previously used to deliver 2G mobile services. By the end of the year when the initial 4G LTE network has been deployed, Telstra will sell dual mode LTE/HSPA+ mobile broadband devices that will operate across the 1800 MHz and 850 MHz spectrum bands. Telstra is partnering with Ericsson to roll-out the LTE network, with Sierra Wireless developing the dual mode mobile broadband devices.
