GSA Confirms Over 200 HSDPA Networks Worldwide are Launched

(Top News, 22 Jul 2008)

More than 200 High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) systems worldwide have launched commercial mobile broadband services, according to the latest research by GSA, the Global mobile Suppliers Association. The GSA survey "HSPA Operator Commitments" confirms 207 HSDPA networks have launched in 89 countries. This compares with 126 commercial HSDPA networks in 63 countries reported by GSA a year ago.

At present, there are 110 commercial HSDPA operators in Europe, 44 in APAC, 26 in the Middle East and Africa region, and 27 in the Americas and Caribbean. A further 35 HSDPA networks in 10 additional countries are in various stages of deployment.

HSDPA is the first evolution of WCDMA and is the clear technology of choice across the world for delivery of mobile broadband services. HSPA (the term which embraces HSDPA and HSUPA) is supported by the largest and most developed eco-system, with the greatest number of user devices (approaching 700) and frequency combinations.

The majority of WCDMA-HSPA systems operate in the IMT-2000 core band (2,100MHz) although HSPA is deployed today in several additional frequency bands such as 850, 900, 1,700, 1,800, and 1,900MHz to meet all market requirements.

There is considerable momentum for WCDMA-HSPA deployments in the lower frequency bands—850MHz and 900MHz—to leverage coverage improvements, performance and cost efficiencies. Several commercial HSPA systems are successfully operating in the 850MHz band throughout the Americas and Australia, and three commercial HSPA systems are now launched in the 900MHz band (often referred to as UMTS 900) in Estonia, Finland and Thailand, with several more in deployment.

WCDMA and HSPA are part of the evolutionary roadmap for GSM and the natural evolution path followed by GSM network operators worldwide. GSA calculates there are over 1.46 billion customers on mobile networks (GSM/EDGE/WCDMA-HSPA) where HSPA is commercially enabled.

The survey also underlines the rapid evolution of network data speeds. About 65 percent or 135 commercial HSDPA operators support downlink data speeds of 3.6Mbps peak or higher, and 55 operators have launched with the capability to support 7.2Mbps peak or even higher, and further uplink speed improvements will soon be commercial reality with Evolved HSPA (HSPA+).

A significant evolution is also taking place on the uplink. There are 51 operators in 35 countries, compared to 26 commercial systems six months ago, that have now launched HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) services, with an additional 17 HSUPA networks in deployment. Europe has 38 commercial HSUPA systems, representing 100 percent increase in less than six months. Most HSUPA networks initially support up to approximately 2Mbps peak, and some networks are now introducing 5.76Mbps peak capability.

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