Taken from ZDNet:

Today Optus announced plans to expand its 3G network coverage next year to 98 percent of Australia and will bring mobile speeds up to 42Mbps by 2010, in a direct challenge to rival Telstra.

Optus are ramping up their 3G network, excellent news for those of us who like fast mobile internet. They're taking it up to Telsta, which is also good news for pricing as Optus's 3G pricing is way more competitive than Telstra's. ($40 for 5GB/month compared to $110/month for 1GB).

yes its good news, tel$tra's Same G service is horribly overpriced - but the only option in much of Australia.

it will be interesting to see what optus' 98% translates into in real terms. its actually the physical, geographic coverage that is important - and thats where tel$tra has had the advantage.

of course they were given a massive legup as the government subsidised the CDMA rollout to the tune of $100m - tel$tra then used that subsidised infrastructure, paid for by us, to roll out their Same G network and price gouge us to the tune of $110 pm for 1 GB with excess data charged at $300/GB when the wholesale cost of bandwidth is around $3/GB. /rant

i am certainly looking forward to optus implementing their 3G service in my area later this year.

Telstras new add

We have won
Cause we have many
millions of your dollars

We hog the cable
And own the airwaves
We are, you arent
We are so hugely rich