ASIA : Vodafone K.K. announces today it has obtained a license from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to conduct field tests for High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) using experimental radio stations. Accordingly, Vodafone K.K. will begin field tests on 14 February with the aim of offering faster speeds on its 3G network.

Defined in 3GPP Release 5 specifications, HSDPA technology enables fast packet downlink transmissions of up to 14.4Mbps (theoretical maximum). In accordance with Radio Regulatory Council reports that view the introduction of HSPDA as appropriate, revisions to related laws and regulations are now underway in Japan. Vodafone K.K.’s field test is intended to technically evaluate HSDPA in a real field environment in order to further commercial implementation.

The field test beginning today will be conducted in the Tokyo Metropolitan area using the 2GHz frequency band.

Reference: HSDPA
High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is a high-speed data communication technology defined in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 5 specifications. While current W-CDMA networks offer fast data speeds of up to 384kbps, HSDPA technology makes it possible to offer high-speed services of up to 14.4Mbps (theoretical maximum). HSDPA is highly compatible with existing systems and is seen as an essential technology for the further development of high-speed services on W-CDMA networks.