Ericsson: HSDPA to drive 3G growth

I thought WCDMA was supposed to drive 3G to the mass market. Now Ericsson is saying IMS and HSDPA, which delivers three to four times the data capacity and access speeds than WCDMA, will help drive 3G adoption into mass market during 2006. Of course, as a vendor, you have to say that the next generation of technology will drive usage.

But we're finding carriers need to do a lot more than offer the latest technology to drive usage. A new study from In-Stat finds a lack of perceived value for 3G bandwidth, which will put some pressure on 3G pricing. Neither WiFi nor 3G operators have found the perfect balance of speed, coverage and price, says In-Stat analyst Allyn Hall. A poll commissioned by Netonomy, a customer service solutions provider, and conducted by research firm YouGov, found that 79 percent of respondents believe mobile phone services are getting more complicated to understand and configure.

For more about Ericsson's IMS and HSDPA predictions and In-Stat's study:
- read this piece from Forbes
-
check out this press release from In-Stat