Ericsson Wins $500m Vodafone Australia Upgrade Deal

Mobile operator Vodafone Australia has awarded a network upgrade contract worth approximately $500m to Ericsson, and selected it to be the primary hardware and software vendor to support its national mobile broadband roll-out.

Vodafone will use Ericsson’s high-speed packet access (HSPA) technology to upgrade its 900MHz and 2100MHz mobile network in regional and rural Australia to expand mobile broadband coverage to reach 95% of the areas where Australians live and work.

Vodafone said the upgrade will improve its services for business and residential customers using Mobile Connect data cards and USB modems. It will also improve the capacity to provide high-quality voice calls, SMS, video messaging, and Vodafone live! services including mobile news.

Russell Hewitt, chief executive at Vodafone Australia, said it will also deliver significant increases in upload and download speeds for urban customers traveling outside cities.