[Telstra launches Australia's first fully operational 3G service over a CDMA 1xRTT network.]

Telstra today launched Australia's first fully operational third generation (3G) mobile service for business customers, which is faster, more powerful and feature rich than anything they would have experienced before.

Telstra Mobile Group Managing Director, Mr David Thodey said Telstra has trialed the service with 29 businesses in Melbourne and regional Victoria and found the major benefit for customers was the ability to quickly access important information in the field.

"The service is unlike any wireless experience in Australia today and will allow companies to mobilise their offices, improve productivity and potentially save money using secure mobile devices," said Mr Thodey.

Mobile users in several counties including Korea, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and the US are already experiencing the benefits of this new generation of mobile devices and applications over similar high-speed networks, providing Telstra with valuable benchmarks.

Initially, this new generation service will allow Telstra business customers in selected regional and metropolitan locations to use CDMA 1X compatible-devices to check corporate e-mail and browse Intranets and Internet at speeds almost comparable to a desktop computer.

"Medical staff at a Victorian hospital who have trialed the service to access X-Rays, radiology, patient history and diagnosis via a wireless laptop or personal digital assistant (PDA) said they found they could save up to one hour per day," Mr Thodey said.

"Similarly, a Wellington Shire Council field officer eliminated the hassle of returning to his office to perform basic duties such as animal registrations, property mapping and registering dog complaints and parking infringements."

Mr Thodey said wireless data services are now available to business customers in Greater Sydney (including Newcastle, Central Coast and Wollongong), greater Melbourne (including Geelong, Lorne and along the Mornington Peninsula) and Sale in the Gippsland region of Victoria.

Telstra plans to expand the network to Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra. In addition, further customer trials will be conducted, including a regional trial in Roma in southwest Queensland, to establish the demand for expanded regional and metropolitan services and consumer applications.

"Telstra is committed to evolutionary progress with third generation wireless services based entirely around customer experiences and demand," Mr Thodey said.

CDMA 1xrtt is provided by upgrading digital CDMA base stations and is the next phase in Telstra's wireless data strategy moving towards third generation (3G) wireless data solutions. It provides virtually constant connection within a CDMA 1x coverage area and enables users to experience maximum data download speeds of up to 72 kbps and up to 144 kbps, depending on the plan chosen.

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