Ericsson Touts HSPA

At a 3GSM World Congress press conference, Ericsson President and CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg said that when Australian operator Telstra launches the world’s first 200 kilometer-range commercial mobile broadband network launches later this week with network downlink speeds of 14.4mbps, high-speed packet access (HSPA) will truly assume its place as the preferred wireless technology for wireless mobile broadband.

“Millions of people today have mobile access to the Internet anywhere, anytime,” he noted, thanks to an ecosystem that includes 125 HSPA-enabled devices.

Ericsson offers the “Next G” platform for HSPA, which far outstrips the 50 kilometer-range typically offered for wireless mobile data today, making it appropriate for remote areas, a traditional bastion of the underserved.

The vendor also is testing 7.2mbps data cards for launch in mid-2007 for Telstra’s network. “This is a key to the digital divide being closed,” Svanberg said.

Ericsson www.ericsson.com