Telstra trials faster Next G speeds

Telstra and its mobile network supplier Ericsson claim to have proved the telco's 42Mbps mobile broadband claims are not all hot air, finishing a trial of the enhanced High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology.

It is enhanced HSPA which Telstra says will achieve top network speeds of 21Mbps this year and 42Mbps next year on its Next G network.

"Mainstream mobile network technology continues to advance with the successful trial of Enhanced HSPA, paving the way for the even faster speeds of LTE," Bill Zikou, Ericsson CEO Australia/NZ said in a statement.

HSPA uses software that ups the potential of existing infrastructure before the next step, Long Term Evolution or LTE, is introduced.

Telstra's partnership with Ericsson is meant to make sure it stays at the edge of mobile technology.

It is not just HSPA which has taken off its training wheels. Blade cluster architecture also hit the test bed. By 2010, four clusters in Victoria and NSW will replace 18 Mobile Switching Centre servers, allowing the telco to reduce its equipment floor space by 85 per cent, reducing its carbon footprint by more than 60 per cent.

On its network, Telstra has activated 3G direct tunnel technology that provides a capacity increase to the telco's mobile packet core network, which is due to more efficient data packet handling. The functionality comes from software enhancements, with no additional hardware required.

"By introducing blade cluster and 3G direct tunnel into the mobile core, the network will have the capacity to handle the incredible growth in users and usage that the faster access speeds will drive," added Zikou.