The new technology will, for instance, enable easy downloading of large attachments while outside the office, mobile access to real-time TV, and the transfer of X-rays to mobile phones to allow instant analysis by medical experts.
For business users, PC connectivity will be the key to the new HSDPA services and Rehbehn says this will also be the best way to take advantage of them. HSDPA will be available everywhere, which means users will not have to be at hot-spots to get a connection. In this way it will compete with Wi-Fi technology.
The ramp-up of 3G-compliant consumer handsets has been slow so far, but there has been great creativity in this field in Japan, South Korea and India. Until there are proper handsets, people will have to use their computers to take advantage of HSDPA connectivity.
One crucial factor for the success of the new technology is that operators must make charging and tariffs easy for consumers to understand. Tariffs based on the actual services that are used, such as interactive gaming for USD 5, are easier to understand than charging for megabits per second. So the trend will be to pay for a service rather than per bit.
Ericsson will be one of the major players within HSDPA, Rehbehn says, citing the example of its recent contract with Cingular Wireless. Under the deal Ericsson will supply a portion of Cingular's UMTS/HSDPA packet-core and radio-network equipment.
"This agreement is crucial to Cingular and means important new business for key vendors delivering HSDPA," Rehbehn says.
"Ericsson has a strong position with Cingular and this deal confirms Ericsson's importance to the operator. Ericsson has one of the broadest radio infrastructure offerings that delivers HSDPA, which will allow Cingular to roll out this technology quickly and cost-efficiently."
Links: Read more on Ericsson's HSDPA solution here. http://www.ericsson.com/products/mobile_broadband/offering/wcdma.shtml
