HSDPA is probably the most exciting alternative on the horizon to high-priced, capped ADSL broadband promising to offer downlink speeds of 1.8 megabits per second (Mbps) up to 14Mbps, but the mystery of the week is that local cellular network operators seem unwilling to talk about it.
About three months ago, MTN announced it was conducting trials with selected corporate customers using evolved 3G (HSDPA), but this week was unwilling to give any information about those trials or make any firm commitment to when the services will be introduced.
Even though vendors of HSDPA-enabled data cards have implied HSDPA services will be available by March this year, MTN is sticking to "the second quarter of 2006" and Vodacom is saying nothing at all. In fact, all enquiries at Vodacom have so far yielded nothing.
The reticence of the cellular networks strikes me as being rather odd, considering they are on the verge of offering evolved 3G that promises to deliver all that 3G did not, such as mobile and interactive TV, enhanced video telephony, multiplayer gaming, and most importantly, fast Internet access.
The important thing to note, though, is that mobile phone users will need a new handset to take advantage of HSDPA when it is finally made available.
Warwick Ashford, portals managing editor, ITWeb
Although this is a very exciting prospect, in the course of the past week, in the deafening silence from the networks, I was forced to get real about the fact that HSDPA is most likely to be introduced in stages. The fact that MTN is conducting trials with corporate customers is probably a strong indication that the first implementations are likely to address business connectivity.
According to Nokia, the introduction of HSDPA to all user segments in a multi-service environment will come only in the second phase of roll-out in Europe and the US, so it is likely to follow the same pattern here. How disappointing.
Another trend the local market is likely to follow, is the introduction of data card access before mobile handset access, mainly because handset manufacturers have been slow in introducing HSDPA-enabled products.
While there are already HSDPA-enabled data cards for notebooks and desktops using USB adaptors, handset manufacturers have taken longer than expected to release products that can handle the higher power consumption and heat dissipation requirements of HSDPA and integrating new algorithms in their chipsets.
The only announcement I have seen about HSDPA handsets has been from Samsung, which recently said its zx20 HSDPA-enabled phone will be released only in the second quarter of 2006, but will come equipped with a 1.3-megapixel camera, music and video-on-demand, and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity.
New handsets needed
The important thing to note, though, is that mobile phone users will need a new handset to take advantage of HSDPA when it is finally made available. Could it be possible that local networks are not ready to make the switch yet because they still have large stocks of 3G phones to unload?
The introduction of HSDPA promises to be lucrative for network operators because it will enable existing networks to support considerably higher numbers of users and help drive up the consumption of revenue spinning data-intensive services. However, the networks are unlikely to go ahead before the current marketing and sales cycle is complete and all handset inventory has been used up in luring consumers into various contract packages.
Not very likely, I would say, but perhaps that is being a touch too cynical? Although there would be less reason to be cynical if Vodacom and MTN had gone to a little more trouble this week to dispel the uncertainty.
To be fair, perhaps the networks are merely waiting until HSDPA-enabled handsets are available before introducing the technology with much fanfare. In that case, we can sit back and return to fantasising about how wonderful it will be to access the Internet at 1.8Mbps-plus.
The good news is that once HSDPA is well established, taking care of downlink optimisation, there is yet another enhancement in the pipeline to take care of the uplink speed. High-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) will complete the optimisation of existing 3G networks.
Nokia says HSUPA will further increase data transmission rates and cell capacity by improving the uplink for transmitting data from mobile devices to the radio access network and will be responsible for boosting uplink speeds to 5.8Mbps.
All things considered, we seem to have a lot to look forward to, assuming of course the networks pass the capacity gains and cost savings on to the end-users.
Although I am still hanging in for HSDPA before March, it seems that May or June are more likely months for making the leap to super-fast Internet access. Although disappointing, we have waited so long already, what`s another four or five months?
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