HSPA and Mobile WiMAX employ many of the same techniques, and their performance is comparable in many areas. However, HSPA is the clear and undisputed choice for mobile broadband services, giving operators a single network for multiple services, a sound business case and access to an ecosystem that currently serves more than 3 billion customers.
Broadband connections have helped make users’ internet experiences that much richer, dramatically increasing their ability to access information, communication and entertainment services. In the future, millions of people will rely on wireless technology to deliver these crucial broadband connections.
HSPA and Mobile WiMAX employ many of the same techniques, and their performance is comparable in several areas. However, key differences in areas such as duplex mode (FDD versus TDD), frequency bands, multiple access technology, and control channel design give rise to differences in uplink bit rates and coverage.
HSPA can be built out using existing GSM radio network sites and is a software upgrade of installed WCDMA networks. When used together with dual-mode terminals, these factors help ensure nationwide coverage for voice (GSM/WCDMA) and data (HSPA/EDGE). Furthermore, HSPA gives operators a single network for multiple services and a sound business case built on revenues from voice, SMS, MMS, roaming customers and mobile broadband services.
Finally, HSPA offers an ecosystem of unrivalled breadth and depth, as well as unmatched economies of scale that benefit all the players in the ecosystem, which currently serves more than 3 billion subscribers.
In summary: while the peak data rates, spectral efficiency and network architecture of HSPA and Mobile WiMAX are similar, HSPA offers better coverage while Mobile WiMAX has no advantages over HSPA.
This means that HSPA is the clear and undisputed choice for mobile broadband services.
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