Vodafone will not build 3G network in Australia
November 20, 2002
Due to financial difficulties, Vodafone will not build a national
3G mobile network in Australia despite spending more than A$200
million on a 3G license. Vodafone Australia chief operating officer
Graham Maher said the company would opt for a partial network build,
or run a wholesale service on a competitor's network.
He said, "We do not expect there to be four 3G networks in Australia."
"If the industry in Australia lets the same situation happened
as it did with second generation networks, where there are too many,
then we are bloody stupid," Maher said.
Maher warned that 3G networks were no where near fulfilling their
hype, "We have not yet found the applications that justify the networks."
He ruled out a possible alliance with Hutchison, whom industry
watchers see as the company's natural ally in Australia. Hutchison
is already building a network worth at least A$3 billion and Optus
has signed a deal to spend a minimum of A$900 million with Nokia
to build a 3G network sometime in the future.
David Thodey of Telstra Mobile said the operator has been successfully
trialling the 1xRTT technology on existing CDMA network and will
most probably upgrade its CDMA network to enable 3G high-speed services.
He believes this was a more cost-effective way into 3G than employing
other technologies. Analyst say an upgrade of CDMA mobile network
would cost Telstra between $A100 million and $A110 million.
Meanwhile Vodafone of New Zealand is in no hurry to make the costly
jump to 3G services. They are committing "some" capital expenditure
to prepare for the next generation technology, but interest in services
based on current mobile technology showed such an upgrade would
be premature.
"There isn't a critical mass of customers who want or can use 60
to 100kbps. We want to be ahead of everybody, but not three years
ahead of them," said local managing director Tim Miles.
|
3G Motorola A920
