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Even in the most pessimistic crystal balls, it is clear that mobile operators will not be able to survive the recession by stopping spending on new networks. While some carriers will invest their way through the downturn with early attention to LTE, more commonly, operators will look to extract more value out of existing networks - enhancing capacity and coverage with new techniques like femtocells, and/or moving towards new generations of current technology.

This is driving a spate of deployments of the latest versions of HSPA and, in the GSM world, EDGE, both of which add new data performance capabilities, and enhanced internet support, to existing systems. Last week saw advanced HSPA upgrades in Scandinavia and Australia, new HSPA+ trials in Hong Kong, and the first live call using the latest iteration of EDGE, which drives speeds close to 3G levels.

Telstra has long boasted that it would be the first operator to go live with HSPA Evolution (or HSPA+), which supports peak speeds of 21Mbps on the downlink. Australia's incumbent has duly activated its 'Next G' network, making the first live data call in Brisbane, Queensland, and kicking off mobile broadband trials, with promises of first commercial services in urban areas "early next year". Last month, Telstra unveiled what it called "the fastest mobile broadband modem on the planet", developed by Sierra Wireless and Qualcomm.

Telstra has already upgraded its two-year old 3G network, which now covers 99% of the population in the 850MHz band, to deliver 14.4Mbps HSDPA, the current peak rate. Unlike the HSDPA and HSUPA updates available to date for W-CDMA systems, HSPA+ does require investment in new hardware, as it relies on MIMO antenna arrays, with two or more antennas at base station and receiver ends. This has made some operators, notably T-Mobile, say they would skip HSPA+ and put their hardware spending directly into LTE.

The Telstra system is provided by Ericsson, which is also working with another early adopter, 3 Scandinavia. It is currently implementing HSPA+, which it will call 'Turbo 3G', in its territories in Sweden and Denmark, planning to launch commercial services in selected, mainly urban, areas in the first half of 2009.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Huawei has completed its first live demonstration of HSPA+ networks and devices. It worked with telco PCCW on the test and said its E182E HSPA+ system will be ready for full commercial use early next year.

Many operators around the world still rely mainly on GSM/GPRS, and here EDGE has offered an important data upgrade for years, and is now entering its third iteration, called Downlink Dual Carrier EDGE (based on 3GPP Release 7), which doubles data speeds to 592Kbps compared to current EDGE. Nokia Siemens has made the first live mobile end-to-end call using this technology. Its product will be available early in 2009 and NSN is also working on the next EDGE update, called EGPRS 2B, which will result in downlink speeds of up to 1.2Mbps and uplink up to 473Kbps, quadrupling of the capabilities of EDGE today.

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