UMTS-HSDPA

High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an upgrade to UMTS/WCDMA that increases the download speeds by up to 3.5 times, with average data rates of 550-800 Kbps. Users currently experience data rates in excess of 1 Mbps under favorable conditions. These speeds will increase to as much as 14 Mbps with planned enhancements to HSDPA.

HSDPA's current speeds are ideal for bandwidth-intensive applications such as large file transfers, streaming multimedia and fast Web browsing. HSDPA also has latency as low as 70-100 milliseconds, which makes it ideal for real-time applications such as interactive gaming and delay-sensitive business applications such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

HSDPA has been commercially available since December 2005, when Cingular Wireless launched the world's first HSDPA service. HSDPA is an upgrade to UMTS networks that usually requires only new software and base station channel cards, instead of necessitating the replacement of major pieces of infrastructure. As a result, operators can deploy HSDPA quickly and cost-effectively. Vendors, 3G Americas and many analysts expect that virtually all of the operators who deploy UMTS will also choose to deploy HSDPA.

HSDPA also benefits operators by making more efficient use of spectrum: up to three times more capacity than UMTS. This efficiency means that operators can easily and cost-effectively accommodate more users and services without having to buy additional spectrum just to keep up with growth. That efficiency also reduces operators' overhead costs, and thus makes them better able to price their HSDPA services at a point that is competitive yet profitable.

Although HSDPA is a new technology, it is backward-compatible with UMTS, EDGE and GPRS. This design benefits customers when they travel to areas that haven't yet been upgraded to HSDPA, as their HSDPA-enabled handsets and modems will still provide fast packet-data connections. This design also benefits operators and application developers because applications designed for UMTS run on HSDPA networks and devices as well.

HSDPA benefits from the scope and scale of the GSM ecosystem of vendors. Vendors currently offer dozens of models of HSDPA devices at a variety of price points. Besides handsets and PC card modems, HSDPA also is embedded in many laptops from major vendors such as Acer, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, Lenovo and Panasonic. Embedded HSDPA modems are particularly attractive to enterprises because CIOs and IT managers do not have to worry about whether a particular modem is compatible with a particular laptop model. HSDPA devices also are available at most GSM frequencies, enabling global roaming.

Additional information

Global 3G Status Update

HSDPA - Mobile Broadband Today: Examining the economics of different broadband technologies (GSMA Presentation on HSDPA, August 2007 - PDF, 555 KB)

EDGE, HSPA, LTE: The Mobile Broadband Advantage (3G Americas white paper, Sept 2007)

UMTS Evolution from 3GPP Release 7 to Release 8: HSPA and SAE/LTE (3G Americas white paper, July 2007)

HSDPA Questions and Answers