According to sources at CES, Telstra has been pursuing handset manufacturers to deliver higher speed HSPA devices. With the industry starting to release LTE devices, Telstra has made it clear they want much faster NextG devices before any LTE trials take place. And we should see 14.4 from at least one maker in 2011.
Most handsets are still running around the 7.2Mb/s range, while NextG can push to a theoretical 42Mb/s. It makes sense Telstra would want devices that can use the headroom they’ve already got rather than have to build a new network to make new handsets available. But with LTE still in early days but starting to catch on elsewhere, manufacturers may find it more lucrative to service bigger markets with new next generation hardware.
Nathan Dunn, General Manager of Mobile for LG Electronics told Gizmodo Telstra is asking for high-speed HSPA+ phones, and that this is very much their priority before they intend to push into any live trials of LTE.
Dunn also suggested LG has a 14.4Mb/s device in their 2011 line up, and has something in the 24Mb/s ballpark further out in their roadmap.
Jack
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 12:35 PMLG Optimus 2X on Telstra NextG perhaps?
Mogwai
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 1:16 PMI get concerned when i see this. Yes Telstra you have one of the fastest networks in the world but do you really think you’re going to convince the likes of Apple that they should ensure their next phone should be NextG+ compatable even though the rest of the world is heading towards a different standard.
Without the phones people want Telstra will fail no matter how fast or fancy their network is.
wsDK_II
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 1:41 PMAs i work for Telstra, i can comment on this.
First off, we have THE FASTEST network in the world, not one of them :P
Second, we will always have the phones that people want (generally)
you mention this “NextG+” which does not exist – the NextG network has alot of headroom in it and we want to be able to utilise this. We will be rolling out LTE devices as well but at the same time sell faster NextG devices – distribute the load across two different tech types.
StevoTheDevo
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 2:15 PM“Second, we will always have the phones that people want (generally)”
If this was even remotely true, Telstra would have 42Mbps phones available today!
The fact that they’re clamouring for a 14Mbps handset is a strong indication that your statement is completely false!
wsDK_II
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 2:58 PMWe align ourselves with what is both avaliable today, what is affordable for our customers and how much ‘value add’ a device would bring – to be honest there really is not point having 200-1000 different devices avaliable to purchase when the reality is that around 10 devices will have 90%-99% market share.
The Desire is the fastest selling Android phone in Australia (however the newer models are soon to take over it)
The windows 7 Mozart is the fastest selling WM7 phone
The iPhone, well you know about that :P
Not much point offering another 97 to choose from :P
Travis New
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 5:17 PMI too work for Telstra & can say that NextG still many years of excellent service that it WILL provide.
LTE is coming to Telstra it has been in test roll outs and has had extensive testing in certain locations and situations. WHEN(not a if)LTE rolls out NextG will be our fall back network(similar to how 2G is to 3G), As wsDK_II no point offering any more then 20-40 phones when only so many of them are popular and sell.
Telstra offers cheap to expensive phones but also phones that fit a purpose much like the Motorola Defy currently available.
You WILL see Next go faster than 128mbps in the next few years followed by LTE rolling shortly after.
Paddy
Friday, January 14, 2011 at 7:07 PMIf Telstra could sell a couple of hundred million devices then they can dictate to the handset manufactures what should be next. This is why we in Australia finally see what the rest of the world does. BTW Telstra employee, does your company have 350 Million mobile users?
Greg
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 4:08 PMHTC Vision aka T-Mobile G2 is HSPA+ capable.
Just needs an 850MHz radio and Telstra to finally pick it up – and soon.
Christian
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 10:58 PMHSPA+ is simply 7.2Mbps or higher down, HSPA is 3.5 down. Most phones released now are HSPA+.
The HTC Vision has 14.4Mbps down, which is still HSPA+
Bill
Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 6:51 PMId rather a reliable hspa connection than a patchy lte connection. what’s the use of high speed if it drops every now and then
Matt
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 8:59 PMAren’t we really needing to wait until the 700MHz band is reclaimed (2014 at the earliest, assuming a massively fast realignment of post-switchover TV channels) until wide scale LTE is ever going to be a reality for the major networks.
My main question will be whether with the Vodafone merger with 3, if a new provider will be able to enter the market with the 5th licence (or failing that a 6th one) for LTE. A major ISP or someone like O2 or T-Mobile expanding here would be a huge boost to competition.
Dan Warne
Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 11:21 PMTelstra’s ultra-reliable Next G network is better than anything else in the world right now, and I suspect it will be for a long time yet.
I see it as being similar to the megapixel myth — people get sucked in by bigger numbers but don’t realise that a lower pixel count can result in MUCH better pictures due to the higher light sensitivity.
I’ll take reliable and consistent HSPA+ throughput over the patchy, inconsistent and generally backhaul-starved networks being rolled out by US telcos, even if the front-end is LTE.
Sean
Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:46 PMI am looking forward for lte to get to i would get a lte modem then get a phone on telstra and i have herd that they are going to use 700 mhz and 1.8 ghz in australia and europe.