Vodafone's 4G population coverage exceeds 95%

Vodafone has announced that its 4G network footprint now covers nearly 23 million Australians, or more than 95% of the population.

The mobile operator said it has converted its entire 850 MHz spectrum holdings to increase its network footprint by over 20%.

Low-band spectrum provides superior indoor mobile coverage as it penetrates buildings more effectively. Vodafone is using the 850 MHz band in conjunction with the higher frequency 1800 MHz spectrum, which provides superior range but lower indoor penetration.

Like its rivals, Vodafone is using carrier aggregation to ensure customers with capable devices can take advantage of both bands for a better experience.

Vodafone CTO Benoit Hanssen said the company had spent billions in recent years to enhance and expand its 4G network.

“We are confident our network delivers a fantastic 4G experience for customers, and we’re willing to guarantee it by offering Australia’s only Network Happiness Guarantee. This means that if you sign up to a plan and you’re not happy in the first 30 days, you can cancel your contract and only pay for what you’ve used,” he said.

Vodafone said data usage over its network increased 84% in 2015 compared to the previous year, and the company is allocating more spectrum to accommodate this growth.

The company also announced its deployment of voice over LTE, a technology that enables 4G devices to make calls without falling back to 2G or 3G networks, has extended to most metropolitan areas. The service is being made available to iPhones running the latest versions of iOS.

Image courtesy of Jonathan Oakley under CC