Swedish vendor Ericsson has announced that it has successfully supported tests of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity 700MHz (APT700) spectrum conducted by Australia’s largest cellco by subscribers Telstra. With the mobile operator having reportedly conducted trials using Ericsson’s new APT700 radio equipment, the first call on 700MHz was reportedly made on Telstra’s live network across two test sites in a regional location in Australia using a pre-release smartphone.
Commenting on the development, Mike Wright, Telstra’s Executive Director Networks, said: ‘This band of spectrum allows us to build the next generation of mobile services. Through this testing we are keen to understand how the network works with the 700MHz spectrum, how commercial devices interact with the network and how we will be able to achieve faster speeds, more capacity and wider 4G coverage.’ Meanwhile, Hakan Eriksson, Ericsson Australia and New Zealand CEO, noted: ‘This is the latest in a number of successful technology trials undertaken with Telstra aimed at readying the operator’s network for the release of APT700 digital dividend… The APT700 band has the ability to provide excellent in-building coverage as well as delivering wide area coverage in regional and rural areas, providing operators with increased capacity and performance, and users with a superior experience.’
27 Jan 2014
