Australian Regulator Tests Telstra Network

The Australian Communications and Media Authority said that its survey of Telstra's CDMA mobile phone coverage in selected areas started yesterday with a verification survey in Southern Victoria. ACMA's selected contractor to carry out the work, Melbourne-based Zamro International, has equipped a test vehicle with specialised mobile phone survey equipment to demonstrate the company's capabilities to ACMA's Spectrum Engineering section.

"ACMA engineers have been working closely with the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Telstra and Zamro to progress the coverage survey and allow a smooth transition to the new network," said Giles Tanner, general manager of ACMA's Inputs to Industry Branch.

"The 3G network is expected to provide extensive and enhanced voice, data and next generation services over a wide area of Australia, and this survey represents the first stage of an auditing process to ensure that the coverage provided by the new network is the same as, or better than, that provided by the existing CDMA system."

After field trials and sign-off by ACMA, Zamro will set off in January 2007 on a pre-determined representative route set by ACMA, to verify the existing coverage of Telstra's existing CDMA network. An ACMA engineer will monitor the survey's progress.

A second survey of Telstra's new 3G network (otherwise known as Wideband CDMA and marketed by Telstra as Next-G) will follow later in 2007, when the new network has been sufficiently rolled out and is ready to survey.

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, last year directed ACMA to carry out the survey to ensure that Telstra's new 3G network provides at least the same voice coverage to the existing CDMA network ."

Posted to the site on 21st December 2006