Chips with the lot: GSMA launches embedded HSPA drive

The GSM Association has begun a campaign to widen the footprint of mobile data networks to every possible device.

It aims to install high-speed packet access (HSPA) chips in consumer and industrial devices - everything from cameras and routers to meters and environmental sensors.

The drive, spearheaded by Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies and a group of cellcos including Globe, Vodafone and Telefonica, will target five verticals - utilities, transport, consumer electronics, healthcare and environmental tech.

GSMA officials demonstrated a Huawei-built HSPA router with multiple Ethernet ports that could provide connectivity for an instant office. They cited Telstra- installed environmental sensors on the Great Barrier Reef, and the idea of a digital picture frame that could receive a photo immediately after it was taken.

They noted that electronics giant Sony intends to have HSPA chips in 90% of its devices by 2010.

'There are now some 200 HSPA networks in operation. We need an industry-wide, standards-based approach to drive the take-up of embedded mobile broadband,' an official said.

'Our ultimate goal is that every machine, device, object will have broadband mobile connectivity. Everything around us will be using mobile networks to exchange information with each other and with the internet,' GSMA CEO Rob Conway said in a statement.