Just a quick slice of news from down under. For those of you living in Tasmania who are on the Vodafone network you'll now be able to access 4G on your BlackBerry 10 smartphone in certain cities. Vodafone Australia have been trialing 4G for some time but it's only this week that sees the service go officially live in Tasmania.
As far as I can see - Vodafone Australia only sell the BlackBerry Z10 and have a choice of 4G plans ranging from $46 per month up to $100 and clearly, the more you pay - the more you get for your money.
Of course, many folk may well already have gone down the SIM only route which will allow you to use Vodafone 4G on other BlackBerry 10 devices.
In a statement issued this morning, Vodafone Chief Technology Officer, Benoit Hanssen, said customers in Tasmania now had greater choice when it came to choosing 4G networks, as his team prepared for an accelerated rollout in the coming months.
“Vodafone’s 4G network continues to expand around the country and we are pleased to announce the launch of our fast, reliable 4G network in Tasmania,” said Hanssen. “We have a long history in this state where our customer-care centre has been based for more 15 years. Late last year we also opened a second call centre in the Hobart CBD.”
“This is a launch I am especially proud of as our excellent Tassie team call me regularly to ask when we’re going to switch it on! Following our very successful testing, I am pleased to report we are offering fast, reliable 4G coverage in West Moonah, Cambridge, New Norfolk, Warrane and Hobart Airport.”
Hanssen said Vodafone has focused on creating a fast, reliable network in Tasmania. “A few weeks ago we announced our first million 4G customers on our network, a major milestone less than a year after we first switched on our first 4G site. Customers are telling us they are enjoying using their devices on our newest network.”
The CTO added the challenge for all mobile telecommunications engineers was ‘future-proofing’ networks to keep up with the ever-growing demand for data.
“One of the little-discussed benefits of switching on 4G networks is that as customers with 4G devices automatically move over onto the 4G network, it means there is greater capacity on our 3G and 3G+ networks. So that means all of our customers notice the difference and are able to access faster data speeds,” said Hanssen.
It may have taken some time to hit Tasmania but 4G is slowly getting around the globe - great news. Are you in Tasmania? How's BlackBerry 10 doing over there?
Source: Delimiter
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