Ericsson and 3 Scandinavia have performed successful demonstrations of enhanced uplink, also known as HSUPA, being standardized in 3GPP release 6. This is the first time that enhanced uplink, implemented in a live WCDMA system based on commercial products, is being demonstrated over the air. The demonstration is a further proof of Ericsson's leadership in mobile broadband and WCDMA.
With the fist evolutionary step of WCDMA, called HSDPA, the focus has been on improving the downlink capacity and bit-rates but Ericsson now also introduces enhancements in the uplink. Demonstrated mobile broadband applications include e-mail uploads at 1.5 Mbps, voice-over-IP and IP based high quality video conferencing. All applications are efficiently utilizing both HSDPA and enhanced uplink. The system is now undergoing extensive laboratory and drive testing.
"3 is an innovator and pioneer in the telecom industry," said Shlomo Liran, CEO of 3 in Scandinavia. "It is therefore challenging to see the world's most advanced technology being demonstrated in our cutting-edge WCDMA network. We see an increasing consumer interest in our 3G services and with this enhanced capabilities consumer convenience and ease of use will be further stimulated."
"We are taking another important step towards making our mobile broadband promise a reality," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO and President of Ericsson. "Last year we took the challenge to do with broadband what we did to telephony some 20 years ago - make it mobile and available to everyone, everywhere. We now continue on an already established track to break the ground for the development of WCDMA with the aim to further increase bit rates and system capacity."
Ericsson WCDMA Enhanced Uplink, or HSUPA, will be introduced on the market in line with terminal availability. Initial terminals and PC-cards will be available on the market during the second half of 2006, with handsets coming early 2007. With the evolution of WCDMA Ericsson stays true to its established tradition of supplying future proof products based on cutting-edge technology.
This latest demonstration follows a now established tradition of groundbreaking 3G achievements. At the China PT Expocomm in October of 2004, Ericsson demonstrated the first phase of the HSDPA implementation, which will be commercially available in the fourth quarter 2005. Earlier this year, at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, Ericsson also demonstrated the second phase of the HSDPA implementation, reaching 11 Mbps.
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