Telstra trials ADSL boosters

The carrier said the extension technology would initially be trialled for three months at Woodend, Merbein and Robinvale within the Loddon-Mallee area of Victoria, Mt Eliza in Victoria and Mudgeeraba in Queensland.

Telstra said the trial would help it assess whether it was technically and commercially feasible to use the device more widely. "If so, Telstra will have another option for the provision of broadband services to the 2 percent of customers who are connected to ADSL-enabled exchanges, but living beyond the current transmission limits," the carrier said in a statement.

The equipment is located near the end of the current transmission limit. The trial complements a field trial announced in late 2004 that could see the standard transmission limit of ADSL increased. "The difference is that this device could take ADSL technology to much greater lengths in discrete locations where there are smaller numbers of distant customers requiring the service," Telstra group managing director, Country Wide, Doug Campbell, said.

"If successful, this electronic solution will be deployed where necessary to extend the reach of ADSL and be of great benefit to those living between approximately 4 and 15 kilometers from an exchange, such as in some outer-metropolitan, regional and rural areas".

Campbell said the trial was one of a series of initiatives by Telstra to improve the overall availability of ADSL in Australia from approximately 75 percent of Australian householders and business lines 12 months ago to 90 percent by the end of 2006.