Chinese equipment vendor Huawei is to commercially launch a new HSPA+ solution next year offering theoretical download speeds of up to 56Mb/s. In a statement, the vendor said that the new solution – a software upgrade to existing HSPA networks – will enable its operator customers to offer download speeds that are twice what is available today. The solution, which features multi-carrier and MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output) technologies, was successfully demonstrated in Beijing at the P&T/Wireless & Networks Comm China 2009 show, the vendor said. 

Huawei said that the solution allows operators currently using its fourth-generation and 38xx series basestations to evolve their legacy networks to 56Mb/s HSPA+ networks via software upgrades, which it says will allow operators to achieve “significant cost savings that ultimately protect their long term investment.” Huawei has deployed over 10 commercial HSPA+ networks to date on behalf of operators such as E-Mobile in Japan, Singapore’s StarHub, Vodafone Turkey and Hong Kong’s PCCW. The vendor claimed that five of these networks support downlink speeds of up to 21Mb/s.