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- 2009 /
- January-March 09 /
HSPA paves way for convergence
The rapid uptake of High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is paving the way for fixed-to-mobile network convergence.
January 28, 2009
With more than 800 HSPA-enabled products and 180 million subscribers using WCDMA/HSPA, the stage is set for 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and an ecosystem in which more than 80 percent of global internet users are expected to connect via mobile broadband by 2013.
John Cunliffe, Ericsson’s CTO in the UK, says potential speeds for HSPA are already so impressive that operators who have implemented it may not rush to LTE.
“We often forget that HSPA has a roadmap that will take it higher than the current speeds,” Cunliffe says. “The technology could possibly reach as much as 80Mbps, so there is certainly a lot of mileage left in HSPA.
“People may think that we’ve got to have LTE to get to the higher speeds, but HSPA will go a long way before we need LTE capacity.”
HSPA is a major factor behind the rise in mobile broadband use and its growing dominance over fixed connections.
Cunliffe says the migration to mobile broadband is driven in part by the ease of installation and use of mobile broadband. “Installation of a fixed connection into the customer premises is more complicated for both the consumer and the service provider, compared with a mobile connection that self-installs and automatically connects to the network,” he says.
“On top of that, more mobile operators are subsidizing the cost of laptops, as they did with mobile phones.”
Cunliffe says Ericsson is on track to offer commercial LTE network products this year, with devices launching during next year.
Ericsson has been testing LTE in Sweden over the past 12 months, recording top speeds of 154Mbps, an average of 78Mbps and minimum speeds around 16Mbps.
“The tests demonstrate our ability to deliver high connection speeds in a real situation,” Cunliffe says.
High-performance mobile broadband will not only drive the uptake of mobile services and convergence of devices, but will also enable operators to combine their fixed and mobile networks in order to extend broadband to 100 percent of the population, particularly those situated in rural and remote areas.
