Austria Gets Europe's First HSPA+ Mobile Data Network

Published on: 23rd March 2009

Telekom Austria's mobile subsidiary, mobilkom austria, has become the first operator in Europe to launch HSPA+ services - offering a potential mobile data download speed of 21 Mbps. In a first step, HSPA+ will be rolled-out in Vienna's 10th district, with further hotspots following throughout the country by the second quarter of 2009.

Transmission speeds of up to 28.8 Mbps will be reached in the course of the year. Ericsson is the main supplier for mobilkom austria's network up-grade to HSPA+ and is also responsible for system integration services.

Hannes Ametsreiter, Telekom Austria Group's CEO-designate who takes the helm on April 1, commented: "Our 4.5 million subscribers can rely on the best, fastest and safest network of the country. With the launch of HSPA+ we are demonstrating our innovation leadership in the European market, offering our customers higher Internet browsing speeds and significantly improving their mobile broadband experience."

Within mobilkom austria's mobile broadband network, subscriber numbers have tripled in the past few years. Between 2006 and 2008, the customer base grew from 120,000 to 400,000, with the share of business customers also showing strong growth rates and mobile broadband becoming more and more popular among both the young and elderly people.

In order to meet rising demand for higher bandwidths, the company is pursuing a two-pronged approach: expanding network capacity on the one hand, while introducing new technologies in congested areas with high transmission volumes on the other. In the course of the year, the company is planning to cover 90% of the Austrian population with the UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA network and to introduce the HSUPA 5.7 technology, in addition to HSPA+, in highly congested areas as of April 2009. This new technology provides upload speeds of up to 5.7 Mbps and supports a wide range of currently existing hardware. The necessary software upgrade for several mobile broadband devices will be available free-of-charge from mobilkom's website next month.

 

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