14 DAY TRIAL // T-Mobile US and Nokia Siemens Networks have just announced that they will collaborate for the standardization of Long Term HSPA Evolution that will enable carriers to reach speeds of up to 650 megabits per second (Mbps). Nokia Siemens Networks will start working on the new standard immediately, while T-Mobile will support the network supplier with the promotion of the Long Term HSPA Evolution.
The 650 Mbps speed is a huge improvement compared to what the US major carrier is able to offer at the moment (21 Mbps).
Furthermore, the new standard is much closer to 'true 4G' technology which is theoretically capable of delivering speeds of up to 1Gbps.
“We strongly believe in continued HSPA evolution in parallel to the further development of LTE and LTE Advanced,” said Neville Ray, chief technology officer, T-Mobile USA.
”Long Term HSPA Evolution will allow us to enhance our 4G mobile broadband network beyond its current and planned near term capabilities, and provide room for considerable growth and speed enhancements. As customer demand for wireless data increases, we are well positioned to compete based on the speed, breadth and evolution path of our mobile broadband service,” added Ray.
Both companies are driving the technology’s standardization and are expecting to make it available for commercial deployment by 2013.
Nokia Siemens Networks submitted the new Long Term HSPA Evolution standard at the 3GPP RAN (Radio Access Network) event held on 7-10 December, 2010.
“The demand for higher data rates and mobile broadband growth continues to push the need for advances in both HSPA and LTE technologies,” added Keith Sutton, head of the WCDMA business line for Nokia Siemens Networks.
Both companies claim that Long Term HSPA Evolution is backwards compatible, thus it will be possible to use it along with existing WCDMA and HSPA mobiles on the same network.