42 Mbps HSPA+ in SA: Good progress made
Mobile broadband technology is developing at a rapid rate, with Long Term Evolution (LTE) already starting to gain traction worldwide despite the fact that HSPA+ is still considered a new and evolving technology.
In South Africa the rollout of LTE seems to be closely linked to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (ICASA) 2.6 GHz spectrum plans, and it is therefore not surprising that HSPA+ is currently a more popular choice among cellular providers.
Vodacom, MTN and Cell C launched 21 Mbps HSPA+ services in 2010, and are investing heavily in the expansion of their current HSPA+ footprint.
While Vodacom and MTN are currently complimenting their existing HSDPA networks with faster HSPA+ coverage in areas where they have a demand or need for these offerings, Cell C is rolling out a brand new, country-wide HSPA+ network.
The good news is that Cell C confirmed that they “met and exceeded” their national target, and are pushing ahead to meet their planned 2011 21 Mbps HSPA+ target of 97% population coverage.
42 Mbps not far off
21 Mbps is only the first step in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) evolution, and speeds of up to 168 Mbps on the downlink and 22 Mbps on the uplink is possible using HSPA+.
42 Mbps HSPA+ services have already been launched in various countries including Australia (Telstra), Austria (Orange), Indonesia (Indosat), Portugal (Vodafone) and Egypt (Etisalat).
South African consumers can also look forward to 42 Mbps HSPA+ services in 2011.
Cell C announced in 2010 that they are planning to bump up speeds to 42 Mbps in certain areas, adding that their current focus is on HSPA+ on not LTE.
“As confirmed by Qualcomm, HSPA+ Release 7 offers the same quality and performance as LTE for the same bandwidth and using the same number of antennas. We therefore see no immediate need for the rollout of LTE, but will look at trialling LTE when the time is right,” said Cell C spokesperson Karin Fourie.
Vodacom spokesperson Richard Boorman says that they have a good track record of being the first to deliver new technologies such as 21.6 Mbps HSPA+. “Much of our equipment is software upgradeable to support even higher speeds,” said Boorman.
“We’ve also been investing in our transmission network, installing fibre connections to base stations to provide the capacity to support higher speed connections. However, we can’t commit to any specific timing on the potential rollout of higher speed connections,” said Boorman.
MTN in turn has already conducted successful trials on 42 Mbps HSPA+ over the past few months. “We are currently conducting trials in our live network on various sites in the Sandton CBD,” MTN said. “This is to proof test the technology in the network and to understand the market dynamics and applications that will require these high throughputs.”
MTN said that further information on how this will be unpacked will be revealed in the near future, but also pointed out that there currently aren’t any handsets or modems commercially available to access these higher speeds.
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