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HSPA/LTE technology kicks WiMAX

31 July 2009 12:13 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Aynur Veliyeva - APA-Economics. The GSM Association (GSMA) says its latest numbers show that the HSPA/LTE technology track is well established and, by implication, that WiMAX is dying. indeed it now seems that even fixed WiMAX is doomed.
There’s a well-documented trend for consumer technology adoption indicating that each new iteration tends to swing into widespread use significantly faster than the one before - it’s as if humans are becoming earlier and earlier adoptors as a sort of evolutionary adaptation.
So it’s no surprise that the GSMA sees HSPA (High Speed Packet Access - the data channel technology used in 3G) adoption exhibiting the same characteristics. The organisation says it expects there will be 150 million connections by the end of this summer.

So that’s WiMAX seen off. Trying to eschew overt triumphalism (and almost succeeding) the GSMA has this morning unleashed a veritable tsunami of statistics. Apparently there are more than 300 networks across 127 countries and1500 HSPA-enabled devices readily available on the market. This, says the GSMA, adds up to HSPA being the fastest adopted mobile technology of all time.

Some more details: 1) AsiaPac accounts for almost 50 million live HSPA connections today and will have over 56 million by this September. 2) EA HSPA connections will pass the 50 million mark any day now and will have reached almost 60 million by the end of September this year. 3)The US currently has almost 32 million HSPA connections with the number expected to rise to nearly 37 million by this September. 4) The Americas (excluding the US and Canada) will have just over four million connections by the end of September. Source: Telecomtv