Telstra has won first place in a mobile phone speed test, beating Optus, Vodafone and 3 to the virtual finish line.

The research, which was conducted by the Sydney Morning Herald, doesn’t leave too many surprises, with Optus finishing second, Vodafone third and the 3 network arriving lucky last.

The four major mobile carriers each provided iPhone 4’s to battle it out on which mobile provider could transfer the data the quickest. Each of the phones downloaded a three-minute song across 30 locations in Sydney. Multiple tests were carried out at each of the locations.

Telstra won first place, with the song taking a mere eight seconds to download; Optus a close second at nine seconds; Vodafone at 13 seconds and the 3 network trailed considerably behind with 30 seconds.

Simone Bergholcs, a spokeswoman for Optus was pleased with the major mobile carrier’s results:

“Our overall network investment positions Optus as the only carrier capable of challenging the incumbent telco's network on both coverage and speed,” she said.

The Optus network is also used by Dodo, Virgin mobile, iPrimus and TPG.

Recently Telstra announced an upgrade to the 4G mobile network, which will be sure to widen the gap between first and second place. Vodafone has also pledged a $500 million upgrade following customer complaints due to coverage issues.