February 13, 2010 - Proves feasibility of improving HSPA+ speed and capacity by using “four-carrier” technology

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Nokia Siemens Networks is demonstrating an HSPA+ data call with a peak throughput of 112 Mbps. The call will be made using four base station radio transceivers, or “carriers”, simultaneously for one data connection. Network infrastructure with this technological enhancement is expected to be commercially available by 2011. Its successful demonstration proves the viability of multi-carrier technologies in HSPA+ networks and its potential to offer high data rates and increased network capacity for the growing needs of mobile broadband users.

The demonstration is to be conducted using a Nokia Siemens Networks’ commercial Flexi Multiradio Base Station and test terminals provided by Qualcomm.

“With the rapidly growing use of mobile broadband, subscribers are increasingly using bandwidth-intensive applications,” said Marc Rouanne, head of Network Systems, Nokia Siemens Networks. “Existing and new 3G operators can deploy multi-carrier HSPA+ technology, like we’re demonstrating with Qualcomm, to deliver a superior end-user experience with significantly higher data speeds and congestion-free services.”

“Qualcomm continues to help drive the evolution of network technologies to enable new opportunities for the industry and better experiences for users,” said Alex Katouzian, vice president of product management, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “This demonstration with Nokia Siemens Networks is just one example of our co-operation to explore the viability of new concepts in networks and devices.”

The demonstration by Nokia Siemens Networks will combine four HSPA carriers to increase performance and peak rates. By balancing data traffic between the four carriers on the downlink connection, multi-carrier technology enables better speeds, better use of base station resources, and higher spectrum efficiency. The four-carrier technology will be standardized in 3GPP Release 10. A base station feature that uses two carriers per data connection will be available from Nokia Siemens Networks already in the first half of this year.

Nokia Siemens Networks’ Flexi Base Stations and radio network controller (RNC) can support four-carrier HSPA with a simple software upgrade. An HSPA+ network can theoretically support speeds of 28 Mbps or 42 Mbps with a single 5 MHz carrier.