mobilkom austria, the country’s largest mobile operator, has become the first in Europe to commercially launch HSPA+. The operator is using kit from equipment vendor Ericsson to upgrade its network to enable theoretical peak download data rates of 21Mb/s. In a statement, Ericsson, which is the main supplier for mobilkom’s existing WCDMA/HSPA networks, said HSPA+ would allow more Austrian customers to access mobile broadband services, especially in congested areas. mobilkom claims to have 400,000 mobile broadband customers in Austria, making it the country’s market-leader. The companies claim that transmission speeds will increase to theoretical peaks of 28Mb/s by year-end. The network will launch initially in Vienna’s 10th district, with further deployment throughout the country planned by the second quarter.

HSPA+ – also known as ‘HSPA Evolution’ – uses a higher-order modulation called 64QAM in order to send data bits at a higher rate than standard HSPA, which has a typical maximum download speed of 14Mb/s. Ericsson said that, for its base stations in the Austrian deployment, the enhancement is a software-only upgrade, and notes that consumer devices that support the higher speed are already available. mobilkom austria is one of the first operators in the world to commercially launch HSPA+, just behind Australia’s Telstra. The Australian market-leader announced the commercial launch of its HSPA+ service on its ‘Next G’ network at the GSMA Mobile World Congress last month.