Services to those areas are expected to be available from April 2012.

Sydney, Melbourne and Perth should get a taste of Optus LTE by mid-next year. Work to upgrade base stations and hardware are already underway.

The telco also signed Huawei on as the equipment supplier for a licenced LTE services trial in the 700MHz spectrum band in Bendigo, Victoria.

The 700MHz spectrum is highly sought after since it is perfect for 4G LTE use. It has caused a considerable amount of tension between public safety organisations and commercial telco operators.

Public safety organisations want part of the 700MHz, which will be auctioned off by ACMA as part of the digital dividend, reserved for an emergency services data network.