MELBOURNE, Australia-Telstra has conducted preliminary trials of its new Nortel Networks-designed CDMA mobile network amid nagging disquiet and confusion in some rural quarters about the closure of the analog network.
Even so, Telstra has branded the trial a success, claiming CDMA outperformed the existing analog network.
“On two of the test drives, CDMA coverage exceeded that of analog, and on the third test, analog marginally outperformed CDMA by only four kilometers, and in all test drives, CDMA maintained excellent voice quality,” said Telstra’s director of products and marketing, Lindsay Yelland.
Telstra’s tests compared CDMA coverage and voice quality with the analog AMPS service. The new network was tested over a two-month period around the country town of Swan Hill, on the Victoria-New South Wales border. The test drives were held over an eight-hour period, covering a distance of about 530 kilometers. In the first two tests, a vehicle-mounted and boosted Philips FM 9030 analog phone was outperformed by the CDMA handheld Nokia 2180 in a car kit, and beaten comprehensively by the boosted CDMA QCT 1000.
Telstra expects to launch commercial CDMA service in cities and about a third of all non-metropolitan sites by October, although analog service will continue until the end of the year. In the remaining rural areas, Telstra’s CDMA network will be available at least three months prior to analog’s staged closure on 30 June and 31 December, in 2000.
Prior to any commercial launch, Telstra will install enhanced variable rate codecs to further improve performance and voice quality. It is also expected that base station coverage of CDMA will be extended from about a 60-kilometer radius to 200 kilometers. Telstra is also evaluating new technologies based around the data mode of operation.
While the National Farmers’ Federation described the results as “pleasing,” in the bush there remained uncertainty for the need to change and some resistance until further testing was done.
Telstra will further test its CDMA network in rural areas and at sea in May.
