The CDMA 1xRTT network - which carries the Telstra Mobile Loop service - was commercially launched in major cities in March last year, and Telstra today announced a further investment of AU$31 million to upgrade the entire CDMA network, which covers one fifth of Australia's landmass, or 98 percent of the population.
The mobile network allows the transfer of data at speeds up to 144 kilobits per second, and will provide mobile access to the Internet at higher speeds than dial-up, and in areas where people cannot get broadband due to insufficiencies in the copper network.
There are already over 100,000 1xRTT capable devices in Australia, according to Telstra, with most of them in rural and regional areas. Most new CDMA handsets are 1xRTT compatible.
> Telstra is expanding its 2.5G CDMA network to
> cover 98 percent of the Australian population,
...and the 2% of the rest of us who are out in the sticks?? (basically everyone west of Cambelltown)