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Ericsson and Qualcomm pitch HSPA+ at Europe's data boom

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 13 February, 2009

READ MORE: Ericsson | Qualcomm | HSDPA | Europe

Further figures indicate the scale of the boom in data services, with the vendors lining up their LTE and HSPA+ systems to meet the challenge. According to research from Europe's EITO, the global market for wireless communications will reach €578bn, up 6% year-on-year, in 2009, and mobile data services revenues will rise 16%, despite the downturn, to €124bn (while voice will grow by 4.2%). Europe is blazing the trail, which sets the scene for the huge focus on HSPA+, LTE and WiMAX, expected at Europe's mobile showcase in Barcelona next week.

Mobile market growth in Europe will underperform the world figure because of its deep recession, but will still see 2.4% growth this year to reach €144.5bn. And the region's mobile data services revenues will grow by 8.4% to €33bn, compared to a rise of just 0.7% in mobile voice to €111.5bn.

The largest single market in Europe is the UK, which will enjoy a 3.8% increase in revenues to €26.4bn, with turnover in data services up 9.8%, to €7.1bn. Germany will see far slower growth, of just 0.3%, because of a 2% fall in voice revenues in this super-competitive market. Germany remains the second largest territory, with France in third place, looking for a 2.8% increase to €20.4

This growth will rely on operators continuing to increase coverage and capacity of their data networks, and the vendors are hoping to catch these cellcos' eyes in Barcelona, which will see LTE taking center stage. Ericsson is determined to ensure that LTE is seen as the premier route forward to mobile broadband, and its CTO Hakan Eriksson has already voiced some of the aggressive messages that the Swedish giant will be giving out in Spain. He said this week that 80% of mobile broadband services will be enabled by HSPA and LTE technologies by 2012.

Despite the commitment of almost 20 carriers to LTE, most agree the technology will not be mainstream for several years yet, so the HSPA migration path is vital for existing 3G cellcos. Ericsson and Qualcomm, the two giants with the most critical interest in extending the life of the W-CDMA/HSPA family for as long as possible, will both have high profile demonstrations in Barcelona. Ericsson is promising the world's first demo of the new HSPA multicarrier technology, aiming for peak download rates of 42Mbps by using two channels in parallel to double data rates, at MWC. Ericsson will base its demo on a concept design called Mobile Broadband Router, a consumer device that enables fixed access - increasingly a target market for HSPA and LTE, as shown by Verizon's plans to use LTE, initially, for fixed broadband in underserved regions. Telstra of Australia, one of the world's most aggressive HSPA adopters, will support the product.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm has expanded its HSPA+ portfolio, targeting "immersive multimedia" applications for handsets and data cards. The range also includes a new transceiver, the QTR8610, which supports worldwide 3G bands and integrates Bluetooth, GPS, FM radio and necessary codecs in a single chip.

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