Bell Canada Launching HSPA Upgrade in November

­Canadian mobile network operator, Bell has announced that it will be launching its HSPA network next month - several months ahead of its original schedule.

"Bell announced in October 2008 that we would launch our next-generation network before the Winter Games in February 2010, and I am proud to say our team has over-delivered," said George Cope, President and CEO of Bell Canada.

"Together with our existing EVDO 3G network - already Canada's largest - HSPA will allow Bell to offer Canadians the best of all wireless worlds: the international reach of HSPA supporting full global roaming, the superior North American coverage offered by EVDO and the unique mobile products produced for each network technology."

The new HSPA network is the latest evolution of the international GSM/HSPA mobile standard, supporting peak download speeds of up to 21 Mbps. While the new network is the broadest HSPA network in Canada by far, what really sets it apart is the underlying architecture.

"Bell is maximizing our HSPA network advantage by building out the vast majority of our next-generation network with high-speed fibre - enough fibre to wrap halfway around the globe in fact - and an all-IP (Internet Protocol) architecture for enhanced reliability," said Stephen Howe, Bell Mobility's Chief Technology Officer.

The new network has been built with the latest HSPA infrastructure supplied by partners Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei Technologies. Bell also recently announced a partnership with AT&T, the largest HSPA operator in the United States, for reciprocal North American roaming coverage.

Bell greatly reduced the cost and time to market for the new network by leveraging its existing national network-sharing agreement with TELUS Corporation. The agreement was originally established in 2001 to ensure fast delivery of and increased competition in national mobile data services, especially in rural and remote areas, and supported earlier launches of 1X and EVDO high-speed national networks.

Posted to the site on 6th October 2009