Europe : Operators who deploy High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology have several advantages over those who choose different paths to delivering advanced services, Ericsson President and Chief Executive Officer Carl-Henric Svanberg ( inset ) said today at the company's Strategy & Technology Summit in Tokyo.

Today 130 operators in 60 countries have already been committed to the technology, proving HSPA is the obvious and quickest route bringing mobile broadband to the mass market. By a software upgrade a WCDMA network can be enhanced with HSPA. With 85 million people around the world already subscribing to WCDMA services, no other high-speed radio access technology has a comparable installed base.

"The same advantages that made GSM the catalyst for mobile telephony achieving mass-market also apply to HSPA," Svanberg said. "The combination of legacy GSM networks, economies of scale and a vast selection of consumer devices ensure that people will have access to multimedia services, the internet, TV and games on any screen and device of their choice."

To date, the amazing growth of mobile communications has come primarily through voice traffic. As the barriers to mobile data usage such as cost, speed and quality of content are eliminated, operators will need to react to more demanding, dynamic users and their demands.

"Operators must take a holistic approach so they can provide any broadband service to any device a subscriber wants no matter where the user may be," Svanberg said. "Users have become accustomed to dependable, easy-to-use services on the internet, and mobile operators must work to ensure the same quality in a mobile environment."

"This creates, in effect, a new channel for distributing content. Mobile TV is already available on networks around the globe, and music, gaming and online communities that are successful over the internet are likely to follow. As the number of mobile subscribers in the world is approaching 3 billion, we can see the mobile content phenomenon is still at a very early stage."

Equally important as the high data speeds possible with HSPA networks is the service integrity provided by IMS. Together, these new technologies will guarantee the quality of service (QoS) users expect, allowing broadband services to be available anywhere on any device in a quick, cost-effective fashion with minimal risk. This ensures the integrity of multimedia services across all access methods.

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