Aussie telco's speed step-up a world first

BARCELONA - Australian telco Telstra used the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as the platform for its solution to head off capacity problems as an increasing plethora of data-hungry devices connect to mobile networks.

Telstra said it had completed upgrading its network to HSPA+ Dual Carrier with peak speeds of 42 megabits per second and become the first telco in the world to commercially deploy this network technology.

"The completion of the HSPA+ Dual Carrier upgrade will mean a better customer experience in areas of high demand, making the Telstra Next network better placed to deal with the capacity demands that are causing headaches for other carriers around the world," said Telstra chief executive David Thodey.

Thodey wasn't at the trade show as planned. Telstra business, including negotiations with the Australian Government over the tipping into the national broadband network of the telco giant's network assets, kept him in Australia.

A demonstration of the technology was running at the Barcelona trade show using a Sierra Wireless data device that will go on sale this year. The capability to connect to the higher speed network is likely to be available in phones and other devices within a year.

The HSPA+ Dual Carrier technology achieves the higher speeds by sending and receiving wireless data using two channels simultaneously.

Peak speeds are generally available only in perfect conditions and Telstra said actual customer download speeds would always be lower.

It said customers using the device demonstrated yesterday would experience typical speeds in selected locations about double those seen with the fastest 3G devices available in Australia today.

This latest iteration of HSPA technology allows the company to wring more out of its existing spectrum.

Telstra executive director of wireless Michael Wright said the company continued to keep an eye on developments in LTE, the next generation of high-speed mobile networks, "but there's plenty of gas left in the HSPA tank".

Alongside the demo of the soon-to-be-released data device, Telstra's technology partner Ericsson was yesterday showing off a device connected to an HSPA+ network at close to its theoretical maximum of 84 megabits a second.

Telstra said it would be boosting network speeds using the new version of the HSPA+ technology - HSPA+ Dual Carrier plus MIMO - in 2011.

The telco has already indicated it plans to roll out the next generation of high-speed mobile networks, LTE, and said yesterday that more announcements would be made on progress this year.

The Mobile World Congress is the biggest date of the year in the mobile telecommunications industry with about 40,000 people attending the four-day event.

Day one had a dearth of new-device announcements despite the huge variety on display on the floor of the trade fair.

Operating systems were the topic of the day, with both Microsoft and a collaboration between phonemaker Nokia and technology company Intel announcing new operating systems.

The Nokia/Intel unveiling drew half-hour long queues.

Nokia's executive vice-president of devices, Kai Oistamo, said consumers would be able to run applications created using a MeeGo Linux-based platform on several devices and be able to move favourite applications easily between different devices.

The Nokia/Intel Meego operating system will go head to head with Apple's iPhone OS, Android and the latest Microsoft development, Windows Phone 7, also announced (see sidebar).

* Helen Twose is at the Mobile World Congress courtesy of Qualcomm.