Few people know what HSDPA stands for, even if the subject has been discussed extensively starting this year. Some countries have already tested the high speed downlink packet access technology which promises to offer much better and faster services than 3G. Once media will present the actual result of such commercial networks, users worldwide will most likely have a greater interest towards this new solution.

This HSDPA technology presents itself as a great alternative for mobile operators as most vendors of the various flavors of base stations claim that their 3G base stations can be upgraded to HSDPA with just a software change, which means not investing huge sums
of money.

Whether you're aware of it or not, HSDPA will shortly make its entrance on the high-speed communications scene, which is confirmed by the installation this technology in countries such as Israel, Austria, the Czech Republic and the US, for the time being only for testing purposes. However, a final commercial solution should be available by mid-2006.

HSDPA seems to be the next logical step in the evolution of GSM mobile phone technology. It provides faster transmission than today's 3G networks - first commercial services next year should offer speeds up to 7.2 megabits a second and beyond.