Cellular speeds heading for 42Mbits/sec

Cellular links offering download speeds of 42Mbits/sec could be available within two years, according to chipmaker Qualcomm.

They will use HSPA+, the next-generation version of HSDPA and HSUPA, the download and upload varieties of 3G High Speed Packet Access links.

Qualcomm showed a test HSPA link peaking at 21Mbits/sec download at a showcase event in London today.

Enrico Salvatori, senior vice-president and general manager of Qualcomm Europe, said the timetable for a rollout of the technology was out of the company's hands. The HSPA+ spec had yet to be finalised, and then cellullar companies have to upgrade their infrastructure; devices could be available in the second half of next year.

Initial implementations are expected to hit 41Mbits/sec on the downlink, and 11Mbits/sec up but a Qualcomm roadmap at the event showed HSPA speeds hitting 84Mbits/sec down and 23Mbits/sec up by 2012 – with the same chip supporting 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) speeds of 143Mbits/sec down and 75Mbits/sec up.

"On a very aggressive timetable you could see [LTE] devices by the end of 2010 and services by early 2011," Salvatori said.

Qualcomm LTE is being deployed in population centres, complementing HSPA which will fill in the gaps in rural areas.

The Qualcomm chart did not show Wimax. Salvatori said this was because Qualcomm did not think the demand for Wimax links would come close to that for LTE. "We are open about this. We will support Wimax if there is a demand for it, " he said.