HSPA, quickest way to bridge digital divide

Mobile broadband based on the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) has been described as the quickest way to bridge the digital divide, just as it would promote the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry and give boost to the economy.

The Customer Solutions Manager at Ericsson Nigeria, Mr. Chinedum Akinaro, made this known at this year’s Nigerian international GSM Strategic conference in Abuja, which targeted on how to create the correct paradigm to support the next 22 million subscribers.

“HSPA is the strongest and quickest platform to bridge the digital divide,” he said.
HSPA is part of the Wide-Band CDMA (WCDMA) evolution, known as is a combination of High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in the downlink and Enhanced Uplink in the uplink.

Dwelling on the “Mobile broadband: Focus on HSPA” Mr. Akinaro said that deployment of mobile broadband with focus on HSPA, would provide true mobile broadband.

“It is the mainstream wireless technology for Broadband data connectivity and will dominate the market for phones, laptops and wireless to the home access,” he said.

According to him, HSPA has the Time-to market (TTM) advantage in the next two to four years over competition, stressing that aside from boosting the global economy of scale, it was built on the WCDMA.

In addition, Mr. Akinaro said it is a simple and cost effective deployment for telecom operators.

“It’s a true broadband performance proven in commercial networks,” he declared, adding that it’s a fully mobile solution with ability to efficiently use spectrum to give cost advantage.

Mr. Akinaro pointed out that the Ericsson version of mobile broadband based on HSPA, enables the capturing of multiple revenue streams on one network, stressing this its strongest business advantage.

He further said that as the industry looks forward to the coming of Long Term Evolution (LTE) of Forth Generation (4G) in the next two years, 2009, to go commercial, the available spectrum should be fully explored.

He emphasised that Ericsson would ensure that spectrum available in the 2.6 Gega Hertz (GHz) band is in line with global harmonisation.

Currently, he said that over 500 million subscribers globally are on HSPA, even as it has been deployed in 53 countries and commercially launched in 110 and Ericsson is powering 51 of this networks.


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