Telstra planning to have 3-4 phones and 1 tablet on their 4G network by the middle of the year

Also announced at Telstra’s launch of the HTC Velocity 4G tonight is that they plan on having 3 or 4 phones and 1 tablet on their 4G network by the middle of this year. The Velocity 4G is obviously the first of the 4G devices, and we’re going to think a majority of the devices and especially the tablet will be running Android in one form or another. I heard from a solid source back in August that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 would be the first 4G tablet on Telstra’s network, though this may have changed over the course of the last few months.

There has been word that the Galaxy Note would come to Australia in the form of a 4G variant, however, the only version we’ve seen so far is the 4G version going to AT&T in the US. While that version does support 850MHz 3G for Telstra, it doesn’t support 1800MHz for Telstra’s 4G network, instead using 700/1700MHz for the US.

With Mobile World Congress coming up later next month, it’s possible that we’ll see 4G devices being unveiled that may end up here. Telstra will certainly be flaunting their 4G devices before and after they launch considering they are the only major carrier in Australia offering 4G at the moment. Optus and Vodafone are expected to have partial 4G networks up and running by the middle of this year — a good 6 months behind Telstra.