Despite faster operator commitments for LTE deployment, HSPA investments are not slowing down. Confirming that HSPA+ is quickly expanding, GSA reports that a total of 241 operators have committed to HSPA+ network deployments, representing an increase of over 62% in the past year. HSPA+ networks are being deployed in 106 countries, 39 countries more than a year ago.
Despite faster operator commitments for LTE deployment, HSPA investments are not slowing down. Confirming that HSPA+ is quickly expanding, GSA reports that a total of 241 operators have committed to HSPA+ network deployments, representing an increase of over 62% in the past year. HSPA+ networks are being deployed in 106 countries, 39 countries more than a year ago. 187 HSPA+ systems have been commercially launched in 96 countries, confirming that over 41% of HSPA operators have introduced HSPA+ on their networks.
According to GSA, 42 Mbps dual cell HSPA+ technology (DC-HSPA+) is clearly the trend now, as operators invest in improvements to network performance, capacity and efficiencies, to maintain or enhance user experience. 62 commercial DC-HSPA+ networks have been launched i.e. 49 more than a year ago. Another 26 DC-HSPA+ networks are understood to be in deployment or planned.
So far, 483 operators have committed to deploy HSPA systems in 181 countries and territories, which is more than 16% higher than one year ago. 451 HSPA networks are commercially launched in 174 countries. Every WCDMA operator has commercially launched HSPA on their networks.
GSA added 440 products to its HSPA user devices database, which now comprises 3,362 products. 245 HSPA+ devices (compared to 92 a year ago) are launched. 137 devices support 21 Mbps peak downlink speed, 14 support 28.8 Mbps, 93 support 42 Mbps DC-HSPA+ (compared to 22 a year ago), and one device supports 84 Mbps. 27 HSPA+ smartphones (including carrier and frequency variants) are confirmed, including 4 phones which support 42 Mbps DC-HSPA+. 160 dual-mode HSPA-LTE user devices are launched.