Optus, who was trialling LTE 4G technology two years ago in Sydney, is yet to build a new 4G network with several Companies now vying for a billion dollar contract.The delay has allowed Telstra to corner the market for 4G devices claims analysts.
According to the Australian newspaper, the Singapore owned network is set to spend up to $1 Billion dollars on a new 4G network with several Companies – including Huawei, Alcatel Lucent, ZTE, Ericsson and Samsung – vying to build the network.
Dumped from the negotiating table is the struggling European Company Nokia.
Last week Samsung chose to launch their new Galaxy S3 as a 3G device, with the Company claiming that they are still negotiating with Telstra over the cost of delivering a 4G version to market.
Telstra’s preferred 4G smartphone partner, HTC, recently launched a new HTC One XL after poor reviews for Telstra’s first 4G smartphone the HTC Velocity which had poor battery performance.
The Australian said that the successful tenderer would work with Optus to roll out its 4G network across Australia using the carrier’s spectrum holdings in the 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands. The mobile network would also operate on the 700 MHz spectrum band, to be auctioned off by the government towards the end of this year.
The Company tipped to win the contract is Chinese networking company Huawei, despite being excluded from bidding for work with the National Broadband Network because of security concerns.
