Telstra is covering 99% of Australia's population with mobile broadband

Wednesday, 26 August 2009 10:32  |  Ericsson

Telstra is Australia's leading telecommunications and information services company, with one of the best known brands in the country. The company serves more than 9.3 million Australian fixed line and 9.3 million mobile subscribers, including 4.4 million 3G users. With a clear business goal to remain the country's favorite operator, Telstra has invested and innovated to make its ‘Next GTM' network the most successful in Australia, and technically one of the most advanced in the world.

In October 2006 Telstra launched its 3G mobile offering and it has gone on to improve access speeds, from 3.6 to 14.4 and soon to 21Mbps. Branded ‘Next GTM', the offering now accounts for more than 50 percent of Telstra's mobile market share and reaches more than 99 percent of Australia's population.

Telstra's success has led to a rapid rise in subscriber numbers. This trend is set to continue and by 2011, Telstra expects data traffic to have grown by 600 percent. This increase in demand has led to a need for more capacity on the ‘Next GTM' core. To sustain this growth Telstra turned to long-term partner Ericsson. Telstra and Ericsson have continued to push the boundaries to create the world's most advanced mobile core network. An established five-year strategic transformation project has made Telstra's mobile core network the most innovative and successful in Australia.

The first step was the deployment of the world's first common core GSM&WCDMA MSC pool for voice traffic, and an SGSN pool for data traffic. Pooling provides a more resilient network and reduces signaling and the number of nodes needed. The next step was to deploy the pioneering MSC Server Blade Cluster for voice calls and 3G Direct Tunnel for data services.

The new generation of Ericsson Mobile Softswitch Solution, based on MSC Server Blade Cluster, provides ultra-high capacity, supporting over eight million subscribers with only two cabinets. The footprint can be as little as 10 percent that of existing servers and is estimated to save Telstra 556 MWh of energy over the next four years, due to lowered power consumption. This pioneering mobile softswitch provides outstanding node availability, ensuring mobile phone calls can be made without any service interruption, e.g. during maintenance work.

The 3G Direct Tunnel feature creates a more efficient network with higher capacity by routing the bulk of traffic directly between the Radio Network Controller and the Gateway GPRS Support Node.

The benefits are clear for Telstra. It is a key part in the evolution to an all-IP network, while advanced technology allows for smooth expansion in the mobile core network, reduces node count, enhances network performance and lowers growth in opex and capex. Ericsson has worked with Telstra throughout its ambitious transformation project and the understanding between the partners has been invaluable. Colin Goodwin, Strategic Marketing, Ericsson Australia comments: "The success of the core network transformation is a credit to the drive exhibited by the Telstra team, the technology leadership of the Ericsson team and the ability of both to work as partners."

The network transformation will continue to evolve. Future updates to the management system and changes to operational practices are expected to result in further cost savings. Mike Wright, Executive Director, Wireless Engineering, Telstra concludes: "We have a reputation for offering the broadest range of services and the best coverage so it is vital that we meet expectations. Our long-term partnership with Ericsson and the use of new mobile core technology enable us to meet growth in demand with a more resource efficient network."

More info:

• http://www.ericsson.com/campaign/sustainable_mobile_communications

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