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In Oz and have a hankering for the almighty HTC HD2? It's now available on Telstra's Next G network in Australia at $150 AUD upfront on a monthly $20 AUD, $30 AUD, or $40 AUD plan, or $0 upfront on other plans. Alternatively, you can pick it up for $829 AUD outright. It's available online and from any Telstra Shop around the country.

"The new arrivals include the world-first launch of the LG GM730f - which is upgradeable to Windows Mobile® 6.5 later this year - as well as the LG Xenon, both exclusive to Telstra. Two further new additions include the TelstraOne Experience user interface from Sony Ericsson and the HTC Touch Pro2 smartphone for professionals."

Telstra has announced that the HTC Touch Pro2 and LG GM730f will be available from July 21 and July 28 respectively. You probably already know all there is to know about the Touch Pro2. The GM730f, on the other hand, is somewhat of an unknown. It boasts 7.2 Mbps HSDPA support (though, still well under the Next G network's current speed of 21 Mbps, and the eventual 42 Mbps slated for later in the year), a 3.0-inch touch screen, a 5.0-megapixel camera, LG's S-Class UI, and upgradeability to Windows Mobile 6.5. It'll set you back $0 on a plan over 24 months, or $979 AUD outright.

"Telstra today launched the world's fastest mobile broadband service, ushering in a new era in real-time mobile communications that will bring major benefits to customers, innovation and business productivity. The CEOs of Telstra, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Sierra Wireless jointly announced a new 21Mbps peak rated mobile broadband modem, Telstra Turbo 21, would be available to customers on Telstra's supercharged HSPA+ network, the Next G network, on 23 February. Peak network speeds will increase to 42Mbps later this year."

Australia's largest carrier, Telstra, has kicked its Next G (3G) network up a notch to 21 Mbps, earning the title of the world's fastest national mobile broadband network from the folks at Guinness World Records. And it's set to increase to 42 Mbps later this year. One can only hope we'll see more mobile phones that, put simply, will take advantage of such a mind-boggling amount of pure "awesomeness", because the last time we checked, they were few and far between.

A little birdie flew in today to tell us that Telstra will drop the HTC Touch Diamond into the hands of Australian consumers as early as next month at $999 AUD outright or free on a two-year, $80 AUD/month plan. In addition to that, we can confirm that this version of the Touch Diamond will support Telstra's Next G network, which operates on the same 850MHz band used by AT&T, so there is hope for those of you in the US.

And a note to anyone in Oz, unless you have this huge desire to take advantage of (or be burned by?) Telstra's contract, don't purchase it from them outright. Shop around locally and you'll probably find it for $200 AUD less, sans 850MHz support, of course. Although, you may very well find the 850MHz version to be the same price before too long.

"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."



CDMA coverage in Australia will be axed at midnight, starting from the east coast and progressing toward the west coast in accordance with local time zones. Telstra has been at it for two years, urging CDMA customers via letter, phone, and SMS to make the switch over to Next G. But this has been much to the discontent of a handful of rural customers, primarily due to concerns that the UMTS/HSDPA network suffers from poorer coverage in remote areas of the country. Like it or not, however - the clock is ticking. Any Australian readers here happy/unhappy about this?