ACMA seeks tender for Telstra network audit

October 19, 2006

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released a request for tender (RFT) seeking the provision of a benchmarking audit of service coverage for Telstra CDMA and WCDMA networks.

In August this year, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts announced that independent national audits of the coverage of Telstra's CDMA mobile phone network compared to its new 3GSM850 network (otherwise known as WCDMA) would be conducted by ACMA.

The new 3G WCDMA mobile phone network is being deployed by Telstra to replace its existing CDMA network which provides extensive coverage in rural areas of Australia.

In this RFT, ACMA seeks a contractor to test the voice coverage for pre-identified representative sites provided by the existing CDMA network and by the WCDMA network once the rollout is sufficiently advanced. ACMA's preferred method is through field measurement in the representative areas.

The Commonwealth will take into account the results of these surveys, together with other relevant information from other sources, to assess coverage of the two networks.

Backgrounder

The current Telstra CDMA network was installed in 2000 to enable the closure of the analogue AMPS network that provided extensive coverage outside the metropolitan areas.

CDMA networks are better suited technically than GSM networks to provide extensive coverage from a given set of base stations.

It is anticipated that the new 3G (WCDMA) network will continue to provide this extensive coverage.

The 3G network will use the existing Telstra base-station infrastructure. So the roll-out is an equipment roll-out rather than one that requires a major development of new sites. The transition from CDMA to 3G is considerably less complex than the previous transition from AMPS to CDMA, because of the similar technical characteristics of CDMA and 3G.

The new 3G network commenced roll-out in Q3 2006. The roll-out will continue through 2007 and (possibly) into 2008.

In 2000, at the time of the closure of the AMPS network and its replacement by the CDMA network, Telstra had an obligation to provide equivalent CDMA coverage in the areas covered by the AMPS network. Network development since then has made that obligation effectively redundant, in that CDMA coverage has far exceeded AMPS coverage. At this stage, the focus of the ACMA audit is on compliance with Telstra's publicly-stated commitment of providing 3G coverage at least equivalent to the coverage of its existing CDMA network.

ACMA is participating in a process that monitors the closure of the existing Telstra CDMA network and its replacement by a 3G (WCDMA) network. ACMA is participating because of the importance of CDMA coverage to users in regional and remote areas and at the request of the Minister.