Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) division has at long last confirmed it too plans to roll out its own 4G network from next year, ending months of speculation over when it planned to turn on its 4G-capable equipment.
Following Telstra’s highly successful 4G roll-out in capital cities across Australia, and recent news from Optus regarding its decision to ramp up investment in its 4G network last week, VHA has today released a statement confirming that from next year, select areas will have access to its 4G network.
“Vodafone will confirm the exact timing of its 4G (LTE) roll out, after working through the required tender process and contract negotiations,” the company said in today’s announcement.
Prior to today’s reveal, the company had steadfastly refused to place a date on when its 4G network would be made available, other than to say the new network equipment being rolled out across the country as part of its $1 billion upgrades are 4G-capable.
The telco has also revealed it will brand its DC – HSPA+ network that is currently being rolled out across its Australian sites as 3G+, with the network to offer speeds greater than Vodafone’s present 3G network. This so-called 3G+ network will become available to Vodafone customers with compatible handsets from September this year.
“We’re absolutely focussed on delivering improved coverage and better reliability to our customers, with further improvements being built into the network every day,” Vodafone Chief Executive Bill Morrow said in a statement today.
“We recognise the consumer trends toward the increasing demand for data and we are now ready to introduce advanced technologies such as Vodafone 3G+ and 4G (LTE). 3G+ will be available from September and 4G (LTE) next year, giving our customers the benefits of even faster data speeds on the Vodafone network.”
With the roll-out of Vodafone’s new network across Australia now nearing an end (only Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne remain), the company says it will being overhauling its network backbone to add more capacity.
“Between now and the end of 2012, Vodafone plans to install new transmission equipment and upgrade thousands of connections to its base stations to the latest Internet Protocol (IP) technology, which is designed to provide faster data speeds and enable rapid upgrades in capacity as network usage grows,” it said.
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