3G/mobile broadband industry news from the UMTS Forum
05 February 2010
Sony Ericsson has launched the eco-friendly Aspen smartphone as part of its GreenHeart portfolio. Featuring a touchscreen, as well as QWERTY keyboard, the HSPA-enabled device supports Microsoft’s latest version 6.5.3 of its Windows Mobile operating system. The Aspen will be available in selected markets from the second quarter.
The Symbian Foundation released an open-source version of its source code for the Symbian mobile operating platform, four months ahead of schedule. This strategic move represents a transition of the Symbian platform from a proprietary system to open source.
3G Americas has published its highly anticipated resource report on 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards and their evolution to IMT-Advanced, or 4G. The white paper, 3GPP Mobile Broadband Innovation Path to 4G: Release 9, Release 10 and Beyond: HSPA+, SAE/LTE and LTE-Advanced, provides in-depth examination of 3GPP technology standards from a technical, business and applications standpoint.
Cosmote Romania has signed a contract with China’s ZTE to upgrade its network to 3G WCDMA/HSPA technology. The Chinese vendor will deploy its future-proof Software-Defined Radio (SDR) kit, which will enable the Romanian operator to seamlessly upgrade its GSM/UMTS network to HSPA+ and LTE in the future. As part of the deal, ZTE will deploy HSPA+ services for Cosmote across all major cities in Romania by the end of March 2010.
Nokia has announced that it has registered 1.4 million downloads of the new version of Ovi Maps since the GPS-based application was made available for free on 21 January. The top five most popular Nokia devices installing the Ovi Maps download were HSPA-enabled: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia N97, Nokia 5230 and Nokia E72. Nokia expects that the move will boost revenues from other innovative navigation and location-based applications on its Ovi platform.
Belarus-based operator Velcom, part of Telekom Austria, has been granted a nationwide seven-year UMTS licence at a price of EUR9.5 million (US$13.0 million). The operator has already started to roll out the 3G network at a rate of 10 base stations per day.
Huawei and Qualcomm have completed one of the industry’s first interoperability tests on HSPA+ Dual Carrier technology. The trial, which reached a peak downlink data rate of 42Mbps, was based on Huawei's latest HSPA+ solution and Qualcomm's Mobile Data Modem (MDM) MDM8220 chipset. Huawei's technology, which can transmit data via two or more carriers, can boost an operator’s spectral efficiency by up to 20%.
NEC has unveiled a prototype LTE handset terminal, which will be demonstrated this month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The concept terminal will showcase the transmission of high definition (HD) video through its LTE-PF platform.
Orange UK, part of France Telecom, has retained its position as the most reliable mobile broadband service provider in the UK, according to the YouGov survey, ranking top in nine categories. The categories included upload speeds, ease of use, customer services and reliability.
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