HSDPA on a roll

The regular market survey carried out by the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) reveals that HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) deployments are growing rapidly. The number of HSDPA networks launched globally grew by 69 percent last year, and there are now 166 commercial networks in 75 countries. A further 38 operators in 14 countries are committed to commercially launching HSDPA in the near future. Commercial HSDPA networks are widely available in Western Europe (61 networks), Asia Pacific (35), Eastern Europe (34), the Middle East and Africa (20) and the Americas and the Caribbean (16).

The data speeds being delivered to end users are also rising. Almost two-thirds (62 percent) of existing commercial HSDPA networks support downlink speeds of 3.6Mbit/s or more, while more than a fifth (21 percent) support the peak downlink speed of 7.2Mbit/s.

The uplink version of the technology, HSUPA, is still in the early stages of deployment with 26 commercial networks launched in 22 countries. The rollout of HSUPA is expected to accelerate over the next six months.

For more on this story:
- go to Silicon.com and Mobile Europe

Related:
- Bouygues Telecom launches HSDPA for laptops
- Operators play wait and see with WiMAX