Are you a Three customer? Do you feel inadequate when you travel outside the major metropolitan areas as your phone drops back to Telstra's 2G network while all your friends boast super-fast 3G speeds on their "other network" phones?
Well, feel inadequate no longer, with Three today announcing that they're expanding their 3G network to cover 96% of the Australian population by next year.
The expansion looks like it will be a combination of using 3's own network, plus piggybacking on Telstra's NextG network as well, although just how much of the latter will be happening is unclear. What is clear is that 3 are already working on the expansion, with 50 new sites, including Newcastle and the Central Coast of NSW, scheduled to go live by the end of the year.
At the moment, Three reaches a paltry 56% of the population with 3G. For me, I just hope they patch up the black spot near Sydney airport for when I'm on the train, so I can spend more time on Giz. Cos I love you guys.
UPDATE: I've heard back from 3 on a couple of questions I asked them - turns out that the extra infrastructure they're building will take them to over 60%. To get up to 96%, they're jumping in bed with Telstra's NextG (the 2100MHz network NextG also uses is a 50/50 joint venture with 3).
On top of that, once the ink has dried on their deal with Telstra, it should bring down roaming costs. To what, we'll have to wait and see, but if it's cheaper than the current roaming charges, then it's good news.
Press release is below:
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