Telstra announces NextG network upgrade

Telco giant Telstra has upgraded its Next G network, and claims it is the first company in the world to offer mobile broadband speeds of up to 42MBps.

Chief executive David Thodey said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the NextG was been upgraded with “HSPA+ Dual Carrier” technology, allowing networks to send and receive wireless data on separate channels at the same time.

However, the company said the USB dongles needed to run the network on laptops will not be available until later this year. Additionally, handsets using the network won’t be released until next year.

Gartner analyst Robin Simpson said the network won’t be fully functional for some time.

“They will be restricted to USB modems for at least the next year or so – which is great for laptop users, but no help to smartphones and, let’s face it, that’s where the action is at the moment in terms of mass markets,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Until other large global carriers roll out HSPA+ dual carrier, this scarcity of devices is unlikely to change.”