HSPA+

It's Everywhere!

HSPA+ is now available on more than 250 networks across 120 countries. In addition, over 100 of the operators have already upgraded to dual-carrier HSPA+, which delivers peak downlink rates of 42 Mbps. What’s next? Even higher data rates and capacity, a better user experience and eventually HSPA+ Advanced.

With all the advancements of HSPA+ evolution, it is one of the important tools for operators to address the looming challenge of 1000x growth in mobile data.

A mobile broadband leader

The HSPA family is already the largest mobile broadband technology today, and will continue to lead, with about 2.5 billion connections expected by 2016. WCDMA/HSPA+ will evolve in multiple directions—more efficient WCDMA+ to free-up resources for more data, Scalable-UMTS that enables operator to smoothly refarm all of their GSM spectrum, and more.

A better user experience across the cell

As more subscribers discover the power of smartphones and tablets, wireless network operators are seeking cost-effective strategies to provide excellent broadband experience for users whether they are close to the cell or away at the edges. With each evolution, HSPA+ increases capacity. Its most current commercial release—dual-carrier HSPA+—doubles data rates for all users in the cell, even those at the cell edge.

An evolutionary path to more speed & capacity

HSPA+ operators are already providing their subscribers with a superior mobile broadband experience today, thanks in part to its peak downlink speed of 21 Mbps. The move toward Rel. 8, or dual-carrier HSPA+, which provides speeds up to 42 Mbps, is in full swing. Looking beyond Rel. 8, it’s off to the races! HSPA+’s well-developed evolution path enables operators to deliver ever-faster peak data rates, and higher capacity while leveraging their existing investments through cost-effective, incremental, backward-compatible upgrades. The key features that are part of the evolution include aggregation of three or more carriers, further small cell enhancements, and many others.

Multicarrier Evolution – Supplemental Downlink

Multicarrier means more speed and capacity for all users. HSPA+ evolution expands multicarrier in many directions. It defines more spectrum band combinations and supports aggregation of up to 8 carriers. Most importantly, to increase the downlink capacity, it enables "Supplemental Downlink (SDL)." SDL combines the unpaired spectrum with paired spectrum

Learn more about HSPA+ Supplemental Downlink

Leading the industry in HSPA+ research, standards and chipsets

Qualcomm Technologies was first to commercialize HSPA+ Rel. 7 and Rel. 8 chipsets. We are continuing our market leadership with breakthrough technology developments, standards contributions, and demonstrations of state-of-the-art prototypes of future HSPA+ enhancements.