Nokia Siemens Networks Offers Faster, More Flexible 4G (HSPA+)

Nokia Siemens Networks will showcase its commercial Single RAN offering and Qualcomm’s (News - Alert) prototype USB dongles at the Mobile World Congress 2012 which will be held from February 27 to March 1 in Barcelona, Spain.

In a release, Keith Sutton, head of the WCDMA business line for Nokia (News - Alert) Siemens Networks, said, “With 100 million smart devices being added every month, we see a consequent increase in ‘smart’ applications that make use of their advanced capabilities. Not only is network traffic rising dramatically, much of it is also unpredictable in nature, and this can impact user experience. This is where HSPA+ Multiflow helps operators; it reduces imbalances that typically occur in network resource usage, and increases HSPA+ speed and capacity.”

Instead of having just one data stream from one base station which is what HSPA+ today offers, users can now use HSPA+ Multiflow which assists in the continuous transmission of two data streams from base stations in two adjacent cells to a single user device. This flexible and advanced solution has the ability to double data speeds for users at cell edge.

Serge Willenegger, vice president of product management at Qualcomm, said, “We are working with Nokia Siemens Networks (News - Alert) to drive the evolution and deployment of technologies like HSPA+. This demonstration confirms that HSPA+ Multiflow will enable us to further enhance the HSPA+ mobile broadband user experience, and is thus a valuable contribution toward enhancing the HSPA+ value proposition and further expanding global mobile broadband coverage."

Operators will be able to rely on Nokia Siemens Networks’ highly scalable Single RAN equipment to protect their earlier network investments. They will have the option of upgrading the old HSPA networks to the advanced technology with just a small software upgrade. The HSPA+ Multiflow feature will soon be 3GPP standardized and will most likely be available from Nokia Siemens Networks during the latter part of 2013.