vB Easy Archive - Vodacom’s 2 Mbps HSDPA plans on track.

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Vodacom’s 2 Mbps HSDPA plans on track.
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Posted by: Fanie

By Cara Christian, MyADSL, 9 November 2005 09-11-2005.

Vodacom’s HSDPA plans are unfolding according to schedule and the first users should get a taste of this new high speed mobile Internet technology in December.

The first Vodacom HSDPA site was switched on at the weekend and testing is now under way.

Current plans are to roll out the new 2 Mbps service in a controlled area in December and then increase the footprint in January.

HSDPA, sometimes also referred to as 3.5 G since it is an ‘upgrade’ of 3G, can produce theoretical downlink speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps. The specification supports an uplink speed of 384 kbps. Vodacom’s initial offering is expected to be a 2 Mbps service.

To provide users with HSDPA only a software upgrade is needed on the current 3G network.

Vodacom currently has around 1500 3G enabled base stations around the country, covering major metros, holiday areas, all major airports, major hotels and most business centers.

Vodacom’s 2 Mbps service is likely to take significant market share away from the other wireless Internet providers and even Telkom ADSL customers, given that the pricing will be aggressive.

Such a high speed service will be wasted on a 500M or 1G bandwidth limitation, and Vodacom will most likely factor this into their calculations.

A great advantage of the new HSDPA cards is that they will be HSDPA, 3G, EDGE and GPRS enabled.

Vodacom will be one of the first operators worldwide to roll out HSDPA. UK’s O2 has already started rolling out HSDPA on its Isle of Man network. They are currently promise customers speeds of up to 1.3 Mbps on their network.

Most other providers like DoCoMo are however waiting for 2006 before beginning with their rollout.

It is encouraging to see a South African company taking the lead in Internet access methods ensuring that South Africa remains up-to-date regarding wireless technologies.