Roaming on CDMA and GSM Networks in Australia

Australia's Telstra is launching a service that enables customers to roam between its CDMA and GSM networks while retaining the same phone number. Telstra's Head of CDMA, Ms Jenny Roche, said the new calling solution allowed customers to select the network type that best met their needs, whether they were in Australia or overseas.

"Customers now have a simple and convenient way of staying in touch from one handset," Ms Roche said. "The 2in1 Calling Solution will initially be available on the Motorola A840 handset."

"The new calling solution will benefit business professionals who spend large amounts of time on the road travelling between and around metropolitan, regional and rural areas. It will also benefit international travellers who can now use the one handset to make and receive mobile calls in more than 100 countries where Telstra has CDMA or GSM international roaming agreements."

The new technology automatically directs voice calls from the CDMA to GSM service where the CDMA service is busy, switched off, out of range or unanswered. Where the GSM service is unavailable, calls to the GSM service will be diverted to a shared Telstra MessageBank.

The Motorola A840 is the first handset in Australia to utilise Telstra's new calling solution. Handsets from other manufacturers may be introduced in the months ahead. This launch coincides with the introduction of several new CDMA network roaming agreements in countries including Hong Kong, Thailand and China."

Posted to the site on 12th October 2005