Europe
UK : Argogroup announced the industry’s first HSDPA testing
capability as part of its award winning Monitor Master range of products.
HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) is a software upgrade to
3G promising data speeds similar to those of fixed-line broadband
networks or the equivalent of four times today’s 3G theoretical
maximum.
The first HSDPA
phones are expected to appear on the market in mid-2006 from handset
vendors including Samsung and Ben Q. Live networks in Europe should
appear later this year. All operators already have test networks running.
Monitor Master’s
new capabilities assist mobile operators and handset vendors around
the world to provide the best possible user experience to HSDPA customers
before and beyond the launch of new services.
According to Thomas
Renz ( inset ), senior VP of the Quality of Service Business
Unit at Argogroup, service testing has become a real source of competitive
advantage for operators.
“HSDPA has
potential to take off in a way that 3G didn’t because of its
much faster download speeds and lessons learned from the 3G experience,”
said Renz. “3G operators are already looking to grow data revenues
as fast as they can. HSDPA offers the chance to improve services that
are little more than novelties under (WCDMA) 3G – particularly
those built around point-to-point video or streaming.”
“While
the technology may be new, the old business rules still apply,”
Renz continued. “The quality of the user experience under HSDPA
powered networks will remain the only differentiator between operators
when users choose which premium data services to buy. Unless operators
get this right, they will struggle as far as revenue, profit and customer
churn are concerned.”
The news of the
industry’s first HSDPA testing capabilities being offered in
Argogroup’s Monitor Master products comes hot on the heels of
the company’s acquisition of ACTeSys, provider of hardware-based
solutions for end-to-end network and service testing. Today’s
announcement sees Monitor Master technology already integrated onto
the ACTeSys hardware and available to customers.