Emerging Technologies: HSPA: The Verdict is Out

High speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) is an evolution of
WCDMA. HSPA refers to both the improvements made in the UMTS downlink, often
referred to as HSDPA and the improvements made in the uplink, often referred to
as high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA). HSDPA enables data transmission
speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps per user. Both HSDPA and HSUPA can be implemented in
the standard 5 MHz carrier of UMTS networks, and can co-exist with the first
generation of UMTS networks based on the 3GPP Release 99 (R99) standard.

A Market Reality

High speed packet access (HSPA) is becoming a market reality with 104
commercial launches in 54 different countries and 158 operator commitments in 72
countries (source: GSA, April 2007). It is widely believed and expected that
most, if not all, UMTS operators will upgrade to HSPA. In most markets, the
addition of HSPA to operator portfolios is not a question of whether they
should, but rather when, where, and how to bring it to market. It is expected
that there will be almost one billion active users of HSPA networks by 2012.

Why Will it Happen?

By affording additional capacity and bandwidth in mobile operators'
existing spectrum allocations, HSPA can significantly reduce delivery costs per
bit and improve operators' ability to deliver advanced applications.

The report quantifies the improvements offered by HSPA
technology that will stimulate the market for 3G data services. It also segments
the likely applications which will drive this revenue on a regional basis,
highlighting geographical differences between taking up services such as mobile
infotainment.

By 2012, 3G HSPA subscribers will be generating average
traffic per user seven to nine times that of non-HSPA 3G subscribers, as a
result of higher quality user experience and lower tariffs. Due to relatively
low deployment costs, HSPA will represent a 'must-have' for the vast majority of
3G/UMTS operators over the next few years.

Righteous Adoption

Users are adopting wireless data in a wide range of applications,
including email, Internet, game downloads, instant messaging, ring tones, and
video as well as in enterprise applications such as group collaboration,
enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and database
access. This simultaneous adoption by consumers for entertainment-related
services and businesses to enhance productivity increases the
return-on-investment potential for wireless operators.

With data constituting a rising percentage of total cellular
traffic, it is essential that operators deploy data technologies that meet
customer requirements for performance and are spectrally efficient-especially as
data applications can demand significantly more network resources than
traditional voice services. Operators have a huge investment in spectrum and in
their networks; data services must leverage these investments. It is only a
matter of time before today's more than two billion cellular customers start
taking full advantage of data capabilities. This presents tremendous
opportunities and risks to operators as they choose the most commercially viable
evolution path for migrating their customers. The EDGE/HSPA/LTE evolution paths
provide data capabilities to address market needs, delivering ever-higher data
throughputs, lower latency and increased spectral efficiency.

Nilabh Jha


nilabhj@cybermedia.co.in