National fixed and mobile operator Office des Postes et Telecoms de Nouvelle-Caledonie (OPT-NC) will deploy 4G mobile services in New Caledonia, as part of its ‘OPT2017’ plan, reports Telegeography.com, quoting online journal Megazap, and explaining that the first 4G antennas are expected to be in place November/December this year. The OPT-NC board says that commercial offers could be in place by February 2015 under the ‘THD Mobile’ brand.

The operator plans to capitalize on its extensive 2G/3G+ network, to support the 4G deployment, with its current 320 cell sites, during the first phase, where OPT-NC plans to put XPF1-billion ($11.6 million) into 150 4G sites. By 2017, the carrier says, it will have extended the new network to more than 50 percent of its total network, which at that date will exceed 380 (2G/3G) sites and more than 85 percent of the population will be covered by 4G by the end of 2017, including all towns and main residential areas.