GSA, the Global mobile Suppliers Association, has announced the results of its latest survey –’HSDPA Operator Commitments – November 6, 2006′ – which is said to confirm that 130 mobile operators have committed to HSDPA network deployments in 60 countries, of which 73 networks have commercially launched mobile broadband services in 42 countries.
According to GSA, this means an increase of 25 in the number of commercial networks in the last three months, effectively representing 50% growth. The first HSDPA networks came on stream only 12 months ago, and GSA estimates there will be between 85-90 HSDPA networks in commercial service by end 2006.
HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) is the first evolution of WCDMA, which is delivering the full mobile broadband experience to approaching 100 million users worldwide. HSDPA means shorter service response times, faster downloads, and new services. Operators deploying HSDPA are able to offer advanced services at lower costs, and with increased revenues and profitability.
In Europe, business users and consumers in 18 of the EU 25 countries are benefiting from commercial HSDPA services, and network deployments are underway in a further four countries.
Mobile broadband market growth is supported by a rapidly increasing range and availability of HSDPA-enabled user devices. GSA recently reported that 19 suppliers had launched 66 HSDPA devices, including 32 handset models.
According to GSA, Mobile broadband services enabled by HSDPA are spreading faster than with any other technology. HSDPA is the new industry baseline for the full mobile broadband experience.
HSDPA operators are said to be reporting a significant increase in data consumption on their networks by users with HSDPA devices, compared to previously available systems.
Most HSDPA networks are delivering typical data throughputs of 0.6 – 1.5 Mbps, and the GSA survey also confirms that 15 commercial HSDPA operators, i.e. over 20%, currently support 3.6 Mbps data speeds in all or part of their networks.
The survey is said to further confirms that HSDPA operators also deploy GSM/EDGE for service continuity, and the best user experience, in areas outside HSDPA coverage. 35 of the 73 commercially launched HSDPA networks have also commercially launched EDGE.