Telstra sets up LTE trial

Australian carrier Telstra will conduct trials of LTE in May after signing Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei to deliver kit for the project.

Telstra said it will spend the next three to six months testing the feasibility and technical capability of LTE for future commercialization under the banner of its Next G strategy. The trial will be located in Victoria.

The vendors say that the live trial will be able to reach peak downlink speeds of up to 150Mbps, and will showcase streaming of high-definition video, video and voice calls, and internet browsing.

According to industry researcher Ovum, significant impact from LTE will not occur in Australia until 2014, as networks are deployed nationally in digital dividend spectrum.

Ovum believes that LTE will be deployed predominately in urban areas using the 2.5GHz and potentially other bands long prior to 2014. However, the big impact will come once digital dividend spectrum becomes available and national LTE rollouts commence of a then mature technology.

By the end of 2014, LTE will represent 10 per cent of mobile connections in Australia, the research house said.

“Like 3G, we see little advantage in being the first mover with LTE. Although not its first 3G strategy Telstra Next G strategy demonstrates this. It deployed a mature 3G standard over three years after it was first offered by Hutchison in Australia,” said Nathan Burley, analyst at Ovum.

LTE World Summit 2010, takes place in Amsterdam, May 18-19