Although many operators have already declared their intentions to launch HSDPA, a faster version of WCDMA, before the end of the year, these launches are set to be confined to datacard users in 2005, with a lack of enabled handsets ruling out a launch to the mass market until mid-2006 at the earliest.

‘After having to repeatedly delay the full commercial launch of their WCDMA networks in 2003 and 2004 due to a shortage of handsets, these same operators are going to endure an exact repeat of the situation when it comes to HSDPA,’ said John Everington, Senior Research Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.

‘Despite early predictions from Samsung, LG and NEC of handsets becoming available from the end of 2005, HSDPA-enabled handsets are only likely to appear commercially in large volumes from mid-2006 onwards, forcing operators to limit their launches to datacard users in the initial stages.’

US operator Cingular Wireless is set to become the first major operator to launch HSDPA on its network in late 2005, after NTT DoCoMo announced several delays to its deployment plans, with the Japanese operator now forecast to launch HSDPA in the second half of 2006. O2 is pushing to become the first European operator to commercially launch the technology across its footprint, following commercial trials on the Isle of Man in the summer of 2005.

Informa Telcoms & Media’s HSDPA Status Update covers:

* A summary of the advantages and capabilities of HSDPA technology
* A detailed analysis of the different business cases being adopted by operators looking to roll out HSDPA, including case studies on Cingular, NTT DoCoMo, and O2
* A vendor-by-vendor analysis of the HSDPA infrastructure market
* A review of developments and challenges in the HSDPA handset market.

© MForum based on Informa's press release