HSPA+
Multi Carrier
The HSPA+ R&D program was the first in the industry to demonstrate a Multi Carrier (MC) HSPA system (at MWC 2008). MC-HSPA provides wireless bandwidth aggregation by combining multiple 5MHz WCDMA carriers from the same cell to offer a higher data rate pipe to the user and increase overall cell capacity. MC-HSPA leverages the existing operator network resources and enables operators to offer customers a much higher quality mobile broadband experience.
As usage of mobile data becomes more mainstream and applications requiring greater bandwidth become more prevalent, MC-HSPA provides operators the means to offer higher data rates to all users in the cell, and thus providing an enhanced mobile broadband experience. It also significantly increases the number of users that can be supported per carrier for a given user experience in the context of applications with bursty data.
Initially in R8, HSPA+ aggregates two downlink carriers (a.k.a. Dual Cell HSPA or DC-HSPA+). Uplink aggregation is added in R9 and up to four downlink carrier aggregation in R10. HSPA+ Advanced (beyond R10) takes this to the next level by aggregating carriers from different sectors on either the same or different NodeBs. Further information is available in the video and whitepapers on this page.
