The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) says seven out of eight commercial 3G/WCDMA operators have launched high speed packet access (HSPA). It has published findings from a new global survey in a fact sheet today. Some 211 WCDMA operators have launched commercial services in 91 countries, of which 185 operators (87.5%) have also launched HSDPA, meaning that HSDPA mobile broadband services are now commercially available in 80 countries.
There are 103 commercial HSDPA operators in Europe, 36 in APAC, 24 in the Middle East and Africa region, and 22 in the Americas. Some 80 HSDPA operators commercially launched services during 2007, representing growth of 80%.
WCDMA is in use by over 72% of commercial 3G operators worldwide and is the technology of choice for delivery of mobile broadband services. HSDPA is the first evolution of WCDMA.
The evolution of network data speeds enabled by HSDPA is another key trend, according to the GSA's research, which found 116 commercial HSDPA operators, that is 62%, support downlink data speeds of 3.6 Mbps peak or higher, including 38 operators (over 20%) who have launched 7.2 Mbps peak or higher.
An evolution is also taking place in uplink data speeds. High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) services have been launched by 34 operators in 26 countries, with 24 additional deployments on-going.
GSA's research also notes that the majority of HSPA operators combine with GSM/EDGE for service continuity and the best user experience:107 of 185 commercially launched HSDPA operators have also commercially launched EDGE.