Huawei may be on to something. The vendor said it plans to launch a 56 Mbps high-speed packet access plus (HSPA+) solution by 2010, trumping the 21 Mbps HSPA+ solution currently on tap for HSPA enhancements. The enhancement will be available as an upgrade to existing 38xx and 3900 series base stations.
But what is most appealing about the solution, noted Current Analysis analyst Peter Jarich, is the fact that this particular flavor of HSPA+ leverages only MIMO and multiple 5 MHz carriers without resorting to 64 QAM. Jarich noted that the solution "should appeal to those who want to boost data capacity over more than a small section of the cell site, not to mention those who have already deployed Huawei base stations can enjoy the upgrade with limited pain."
HSPA+, the 21 Mbps Release 7 version, allows operators to either deploy 64 QAM or 2x2 MIMO, which bumps the speed up to 28 Mbps. HSPA+ in Release 8 will be able to combine both and deliver a theoretical rate of 42 Mbps. In essence, Huawei's solution give more cost-effective options.
For more:
- see ITPro
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