Following extensive testing Telstra today announced it had achieved the milestone of the same or better coverage on the Next G network as on CDMA.

Executive Director Telstra Wireless, Mr Mike Wright, said it took many months of testing and optimisation by Telstra and its strategic partner Ericsson to get to the point where their scientific and engineering reviews showed the Next G network was bigger, better and faster than CDMA on every measure.

This means the Next G network coverage is now available in all areas where there is published CDMA network coverage, as well as in more than 45 locations which previously did not have CDMA coverage.

"The Next G network now covers 25 per cent more territory than the published coverage of the old CDMA network, has nearly 75 per cent more towers, offers speeds up to five times faster, and roams to more than 160 extra countries for voice and SMS," Mr Wright said.

"This means the time is right for our customers still connected to CDMA to make the move to the Next G network, with the confidence they are choosing a bigger, better and faster mobile network that is growing all the time.

"We make this coverage declaration after undertaking rigorous engineering reviews as well as an industry recognised testing methodology to fine-tune the network and achieve what we committed to in November 2005 - that Telstra's Next G network will provide the same or better coverage as the ageing CDMA network.

The Next G network:

covers more than two million square kilometres and is 25 per cent larger than the published coverage of the CDMA network at more than 1.6 million square kilometres and is more than 100 times larger than any competing 3G network.
has more than 6,000 sites, nearly 75 per cent more than the CDMA network's 3,480 sites.
enables mobile phone coverage to more than 98.9 per cent of Australia's population, compared to the CDMA network's more than 98 per cent. enables wireless broadband to more than 98.9 per cent of the population, compared to 49 per cent of the population on the CDMA 1xEV-DO.
offers typical user download speeds* of 550 kbps - 3 Mbps, compared to a maximum of 300 - 600 kbps on CDMA 1x EV-DO.
offers peak network uplink speed of 1.9 Mbps compared to 153 kbps offered on the CDMA 1xRTT and 1x EV-DO.
supports international roaming in more than 170 countries, compared to nine countries for CDMA.
achieved network call drop performance of less than one per cent within just 10 months, compared to six years for CDMA.

Telstra has met its commitment to meet or exceed CDMA published coverage on the new Next G mobile broadband network two months ahead of schedule and is on track to close the CDMA network on 28 January 2008.

* Speeds may vary due to congestion, distance from the cell, local conditions, hardware, software and other factors.

For more information on Telstra's Next G network and Next G network coverage head to www.telstra.com/nextg or phone Telstra on 125 111.

You can also check for Next G coverage at Telstra Mobile coverage maps (www.telstra.com.au)