Telstra gains one millionth CDMA customer

Telstra today announced its one-millionth customer on the high speed CDMA mobile network.

Telstra plans add an extra 250 CDMA base stations to the almost 3000 existing towers by Christmas, with more than half of the new stations in regional and outer metropolitan areas.

"The growth of CDMA has been very significant, and we are supplying access in new areas all the time," Telstra spokesperson Warwick Ponder said.

"CDMA is no longer just a 'bush' network. Much of the growth is now coming from metropolitan customers," Telstra Consumer and Marketing Group managing director, David Moffatt said.

Ponder said one of the advantages of the CDMA network is its high speed data capabilities in rural areas.

High speed access is via the '1x' standard, which is currently available in all coverage areas and reaches data speeds of up to 144Kb/s, while some areas are also able to access EVDO, which has speeds of between 300 and 500Kb/s and a peak of 1Mb/s, Ponder said.

The CDMA network came online in late 1999 and now covers over 98 percent of the Australian population.

Moffatt said Telstra now has more than 7.6 million mobile customers who are increasingly choosing the CDMA network because of its national coverage and features.