HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) is specified in 3GPP Release 5. With HSDPA, WCDMA has been extended with additional transport and control channels, such as the high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH), which provides enhanced support for interactive, background and, to some extent, streaming services.

Enhanced Uplink is specified in 3GPP Release 6 and has been extended with additional transport and control channels, such as the enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH), and with similar features to HSDPA. Enhanced Uplink will cater for the needs of mobile broadband with increased performance in the uplink: it will provide up to 5.8Mbps in the uplink, reduced delay and 150-200 percent greater system capacity.