Optus Rolls Out 4G In Gold Coast And Brisbane

 

  • Four sites in Surfers Paradise
  • Five sites in Brisbane CBD go live next week
  • Wider rollout in December and January

With 4G competition heating up around Australia, telcos are keen to make headway fast.

 

  • Four sites in Surfers Paradise
  • Five sites in Brisbane CBD go live next week
  • Wider rollout in December and January

With 4G competition heating up around Australia, telcos are keen to make headway fast.

Optus is gaining on Telstra as it switches on 4G in four sites in Surfers Paradise, with five more in Brisbane CBD to be launched next week ahead of a wider rollout in December and January. More Surfers Paradise sites will also be turned on in December.

Currently, Optus 4G coverage in Sydney runs from Bondi to Newington east to west, and from La Perouse to Dee Why south to north.

“2012 has seen Optus undertake one of the largest ever network programmes for our customers, with the completion of large scale 3G network enhancements and the launch of 4G services in Newcastle, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne,” says Günther Ottendorfer, Managing Director of Networks at Optus.

“With the success of these initiatives, we have managed to accelerate network rollout to deliver Optus 4G to select areas of the Gold Coast and Brisbane nearly six months ahead of schedule, with more sites to come online before the end of the year.”

4G Wars

As of the moment, Telstra’s coverage remains broader. Telstra’s mobile division is powering ahead, and appears to be stealing market share from Optus and Vodafone.

Telstra was the first to launch 4G netwroks in Australia, with Optus only just now rolling out 4G services, while Vodafone won’t have a 4G network ready until 2013.

On speed, recent tests have generally revealed that Telstra’s 4G network was generally better than Optus’s, as it consistently offered faster data speeds.

However, there are some variations. While Telstra’s 4G coverage zone is greater than Optus’s, there are instances where data downloaded faster on the Optus network than with Telstra.

On subscriber numbers, Telstra leads the field with 13.8 million mobile subscribers. Optus has 9.5 million and Vodafone 6.8 million.