SYDNEY, Australia-Australia’s largest wireless carrier Telstra Corp. launched Telstra Mobile Broadband, a 1 EV-DO service. The carrier said the service offers broadband-equivalent speeds with average data speeds of 300 to 600 kilobits per second, bursting to a maximum of 2.4 megabits per second.
The service is available in all capital cities and selected regional areas, focusing on major airport routes and the key central business districts. Customers travelling outside a Telstra Mobile Broadband coverage area with a compatible mobile device will seamlessly switch to Telstra’s CDMA network, which covers more than 98 percent of the population.
The launch of Telstra Mobile Broadband follows an announcement by Telstra in July to invest almost $38.6 million to rollout EV-DO service. Telstra Wireless Hotspots are included in the pricing plans for the EV-DO offering.
The two types of pricing plans comprise one charged on an hourly basis in 15-minute blocks and one based on megabyte data use and charged in 1-kilobyte blocks. One contract plan is charged month to month, and 24-month contracts are available on all plans and offer subsidies on devices.
At launch, Telstra is offering the Sierra Wireless AirCard 580 PC Card and the i-mate PDA2k 1x EV-DO device. Other devices will be available in early 2005, Telstra said.
Nortel Networks Ltd. supplied the EV-DO infrastructure.<
