Enhanced HSPA technology enables maximum uplink data rates of 5.8Mbps and a significant reduction in network latency, resulting in markedly better performance for interactive consumer applications.

Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio at Ericsson, says the higher uplink data speeds and lowered latency improve interactive communication for the consumer. 3 Italia customers will experience dramatic improvements in video conferencing, uploading user-generated content and sending e-mails with attachments, as well as better performance for interactive online gaming, he says.

Vincenzo Novari, CEO of 3 Italia, says: “This world-first achievement reaffirms our commitment to accelerating the development of the mobile broadband market.”

Ewaldsson says the Enhanced HSPA mobile-data connections were achieved on 3 Italia’s existing commercial network. “With this world-first achievement, we are underlining Ericsson's technology leadership in the mobile broadband area,” he says.

Enhanced HSPA is the natural extension of existing WCDMA/GSM technology, which powers about 85 percent of the world’s existing wireless networks. The technology reaches a large number of wireless users and has created a mass market for mobile broadband.