3G/mobile broadband industry news from the UMTS Forum
28 May 2010
T-Mobile USA has expanded coverage of its HSPA+ mobile broadband network in Northeastern U.S. and other major cities across the country. The operator has upgraded its network to HSPA+ in the New York City metropolitan area, including New Jersey and Long Island. It has extended its HSPA+ reach in adjoining regions, including Upstate New York (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse), Connecticut (Hartford, New Haven, Milford and Stamford), Providence, R.I. The service is also available in Memphis, Tenn., Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Washington and D.C. suburbs. T-Mobile USA will next expand its HSPA+ network into Boston and Washington, D.C.
Nokia and Yahoo! have signed a strategic alliance to leverage their respective strengths in maps and navigation, as well as e-mail and instant messaging, across PC and mobile devices. The partnership will bring mail and messaging enhancements to the Ovi Mail application, while Yahoo!'s maps and navigation services will be integrated with Ovi Maps across Yahoo! properties.
AIRCOM International, the network planning and optimisation company, has published a report highlighting the short-term commercial advantages of HSPA+ technology. AIRCOM has identified HSPA+ as a compelling alternative to LTE for operators considering their mobile broadband migration strategies. It offers significantly reduced capital expenditure (CAPEX) investment compared to LTE and higher return on investment (ROI). HSPA+ technology offers peak downlink speeds of up to 21 Mbps without any additional antenna infrastructure or second carrier.
The German mobile broadband spectrum auction of a total of 359.2 MHz of frequencies in the 800 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz frequency bands has generated EUR4.38 billion. KPN’s German subsidiary won eight blocks, or 70 MHz of spectrum (19% of the auctioned amount) at the cost of EUR284 million. It has doubled the amount of spectrum owned by E-Plus. Vodafone won 12 blocks across all frequencies for EUR1.42 billion, while Telefónica O2 paid EUR1.38 billion for 11 blocks, and T-Mobile EUR1.3 billion for 10 blocks.
Dell and O2 UK are readying for the launch of the Dell Streak internet tablet exclusively on O2 UK’s network in early June. Running on Qualcomm’s 1 GHz snapdragon processor, the new Android-powered device features a 5-inch touchscreen, HSPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a 5-megapixel camera and 2 GB of internal storage (upgradable to 32 GB). It also supports Flash and voice calls. The Streak tablet computer, claimed to rival Apple’s iPad, will be available across the UK via O2 and Carphone Warehouse stores in early June, and later in the month via Dell’s own website.
3UK has unveiled details of its iPad data plans in time for its planned launch of the Wi-Fi /3G device this week. The operator is offering customers an option of up to 1 GB of data volume for GBP7.50 per month, or GBP15 for up to 10 GB per month. Users are not obliged to sign a contract, allowing them to activate or cancel the plan at any time.
Telstra has been selected by Research In Motion (RIM) as an exclusive partner for the Australian launch of the new BlackBerry Pearl 3G. The HSDPA-enabled device features the BlackBerry email, messaging and social networking capabilities, as well as a 20-key condensed QWERTY keyboard and RIM’s SureType software that can complete words as a user types. The smallest BlackBerry smartphone to date, the BlackBerry Pearl 3G will be available exclusively for three months on Telstra’s Next G network.
Telefónica O2 Germany has unveiled the mobile phone surf flatrate with a smartphone option, which includes a data volume of up to 1 GB per month. The smartphone option costs EUR5 per month, on the top of the mobile phone surf flatrate of EUR10 per month, boosting mobile broadband data use for customers. The add-on offer is aimed at high volume users. It has a minimum period of three months (one month for the prepaid users).
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