First High-Speed 3GSM Networks Go Live

December 15, 2005

Cingular Wireless launched the first commercial mobile High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) services, offering laptop users wireless access to the Internet at speeds between 400 and 700 Kbps per second in 16 U.S. cities. Manx Telecom, owned by O2, launched Europe's first service on the Isle of Man.

"HSDPA users don't have to worry about online registration, scratch cards, credit cards or any of the other cumbersome mechanisms often required to access wireless hotspots," said GSM Association Chairman Craig Ehrlich. "Instead, their SIM card allows them to jump online quickly and easily with one mobile account."

HSDPA is typically a software upgrade to a W-CDMA network. It doubles network capacity, while making the transmission of everything from voice calls to video pictures more efficient, boosting download speeds as much as fivefold. More than 80 W-CDMA networks have been deployed worldwide in 37 countries. Research firm Wireless Intelligence forecasts there will be more than 50 million W-CDMA subscribers by the end of 2005.

Source: GSM Association (GSMA).