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Chapter closes on CDMA mobile network at midnight tonight
Telstra Country Wide Director, Gary Goldsworthy, today confirmed that the old CDMA mobile network would shut down across the country at midnight tonight, closing a significant chapter in the history of telecommunications in Australia.
"At midnight tonight Telstra will commence the carefully planned closure of the redundant CDMA mobile network. Today really is the last chance for remaining CDMA customers to move across to a new mobile network, such as the Telstra Next G™ network, and remain connected" Mr Goldsworthy said.
"CDMA technology has served Australia well over the years but has now been superseded by more advanced third generation mobile technology such as the Telstra Next G™ network, which carries about 7.5 times the data carried on the CDMA network at its peak.
"Our team has been preparing for the closure of the CDMA network for more than two years and nothing has been left to chance. CDMA customers have been individually contacted by phone, letter and SMS messages in an effort to remind them of the need to migrate to a new mobile network.
"At midnight AEST, our engineering team will progressively turn off the CDMA network and from that time on CDMA customers won't be able to send or receive any phone calls, text or data," Mr Goldsworthy said.
The decommissioning process will start in the eastern states, followed by other regions in accordance with their local time zones.
Any calls that are in process at the time of the closure will be allowed to continue until 1am local time on Tuesday 29 April. Telstra will also ensure that any existing Emergency 000 calls initiated before midnight will be individually allowed to continue until completed.
Following the network closure any calls to a remaining CDMA service will receive a "Number disconnected" announcement, while text messages will receive a "Message Not Sent" indication.
Mr Goldsworthy said the immediate focus after the CDMA network closure was the deactivation of approximately 3,500 CDMA sites around Australia and the removal of redundant equipment.
"The CDMA network equipment is now up to a decade old and well past its use by date. Our technicians will therefore be removing old CDMA equipment and anything of value will be reused, sold or recycled," Mr Goldsworthy said.
Mr Goldsworthy advised any CDMA customer who had yet to migrate to a new mobile network to immediately visit their local Telstra shop or dealer. Further information on how to migrate from CDMA to the Telstra Next G™ network is available from the CDMA upgrade website (www.telstra.com.au)
Reference Number: 117/2008
