China based Huawei Technologies, a provider best known in the UK for its cheap USB Mobile Broadband modems (dongles), has successfully completed the world's first live demonstration of a commercially ready HSPA+ Mobile Broadband network and device.

Existing High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) Mobile Broadband technology is capable of delivering download speeds at up to a theoretical maximum of 14.4Mbps (384Kbps upstream). By comparison HSPA+ offers data rates of 'up to' 42Mbps (22Mbps upstream).

Conducted in Hong Kong with telecoms operator PCCW, Huawei's test was able to achieve speeds of 'up to' 21Mbps, which while not the maximum of HSPA+ is still a big step in the right direction:


Huawei claims that it is now on track to have its new HSPA+ service and technology ready for commercial use in the early part of 2009. Mobile operators are likely to be interested in the new service because it does not require new spectrum and is backwards compatible with most existing infrastructure.