Australian telecom giant Telstra has officially launched its “turbo-charged NEXT G” network, a HSDPA one.
From the press release:
“We have created a unique ‘My Place’ menu to give our customers easy, 1-click access to nine services and applications that are most relevant to them. With a simple ‘1-touch, 1-click’ our customers can access FOXTEL, Sensis search, BigPond content, music, email, photos, downloads, maps and My Account information.
In an Australian first, customers can:
- watch 12 channels of FOXTEL exclusively on their NEXT G handset, including news, sport, wildlife documentaries, and children’s programs, with more to come;
- access Telstra’s award winning BigPond Mobile service offering entertainment, news, and exclusive content including AFL (for which Telstra paid AU$60 million for the digital rights), NRL, and V8 Supercars;
- watch Warner Bros. classic movies and the BBC’s best television programs on their PCs through the BigPond Movie Download service;
- download a music track to both their mobile and computer in 1-click; and
- benefit from Telstra’s ‘locate me’ technology which matches their location with their information request through Sensis services such as CitySearch, WhereIs, Trading Post and Yellow Mobile.”
Telstra invested AU$1 billion dollars (746 million US) in the network (on top of the amount paid to buy into Hutchison’s separate 3G network). Telstra has made several serious but incompetent attempts into selling mobile content—for the sake of everybody I hope this attempt is more successful.