Vodafone’s LTE plans have added new spectrum in the 1800MHz range via a deal with railway authorities in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
ZDNet reports that the deal’s been struck for spectrum held by the relevant state railway authorities that expires in 2013 and 2015. It adds to Vodafone’s existing 1800MHz holdings, and should allow it to provide more reliable LTE services, although everything at Vodafone is still in trial stage when it comes to LTE; Telstra’s the only carrier offering a commercial 1800Mhz LTE service to customers at this stage, and Optus recently said it won’t offer LTE until next year. ZDNet quotes Vodafone CEO Nigel Dews on the spectrum swap arrangement:
We have now organised our spectrum into contiguous blocks in mainland capital cities that will support the roll out of LTE in all capital cities, once mass market handsets and mobile broadband devices are available at mass market prices.”
[ZDNet]