GSA announces 100 commercial HSDPA networks worldwide

(Business News & Technology News, 20 Mar 2007)

GSA – the Global mobile Suppliers Association, confirms that 100 HSDPA networks have commercially launched mobile broadband services in 54 countries. GSA's latest "HSDPA Operator Commitments" survey shows the rapid market acceptance of HSDPA worldwide, with commercial networks launched in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, North and South America, and Australia. Two-thirds of commercial WCDMA operators have also launched HSDPA, and 89 HSDPA networks have entered commercial service over the past 12 months.

HSDPA is the first evolution of WCDMA, delivering advanced mobile multimedia services and typical user throughputs of 800kbps to 3Mbps, depending on individual networks and device capabilities. A total of 147 operators have committed to deploying HSDPA, in 67 countries.

The GSA survey indicates that approaching 40 HSDPA networks support 3.6Mbps peak data throughput (downlink direction). A growing number are delivering 7.2Mbps peak data throughput, leveraging new higher-speed devices coming into the market. One network has been declared as "14.4Mbps (peak) ready" while several additional networks will have this capability by end 2007. The first commercial HSUPA (uplink direction) network is launched, with several more set to follow in 2007.

Mobile broadband services are commercially available on 100 HSDPA networks in the following 54 countries/territories:

- Africa: Namibia, South Africa, and Tanzania

- Americas: Canada, Chile, Puerto Rico and USA

- APAC: Australia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan

- Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Madeira, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and UK
(HSDPA is commercially available in 25 of the 27 EU countries)

- Middle East: Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and UAE

The number of models of HSDPA user devices is surging. GSA estimates that over 220 products have been announced, covering all market segments, with over 160 models being launched in the past six months alone.

There is a clear trend by operators to use GSM/EDGE as part of mobile broadband services delivery for service continuity and the best experience where HSDPA is not available. The majority of HSDPA operators have deployed EDGE on their GSM/GPRS networks for lower capital expense, optimum flexibility and efficiencies. The survey shows that 75 of 147 HSDPA networks in deployment also combine with a complementary GSM/EDGE network, e.g. in rural areas, and 51 of 100 commercial HSDPA operators have also launched GSM/EDGE service. Over 75 percent of HSDPA user devices also support GSM/EDGE functionality.

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