Telstra double reach on LTE network

Telstra’s 4G cell range has been 100km, but this new capability has doubled that reach to 200km on Telstra’s Mount Dowe site in New South Wales.

On paper, it seems like Telstra now has the capacity to potentially double its coverage, but CEO Andy Penn was quick to refute that.

“[This is] not a magic pill to double our coverage,” said Penn, “[it is one of the] options in our tool kit to provide coverage.”

Telstra predicts that this innovation will be most felt in the regional, and rural areas of Australia.

Telstra Network Engineering Executive Channa Seneviratne said, “effectively doubling the current 4G coverage range of a mobile base station, is a huge win for regional and remote Australia.”

The dramatic increase is due to a software upgrade to Telstra’s mobile network, based on the Ericsson Radio System. 

Ericsson and Telstra have seen milestones like this in the past, with the duo achieving a 200km range via 3G back in 2007.

Further testing is required, but according to the Telco, the capability will become commercially available in 2020 for select locations.

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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