Synopsis
As social networking booms with consumers increasingly sharing content such as images and videos, the need for a broadband connection with fast upload speeds becomes critically important. According to Ericsson, global mobile broadband use in the next five years is expected to reach the same level of penetration as the second-generation mobile phones that have been providing voice and text messaging today.
In 2000, before Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, only 360 million people globally were online. By the end of the decade a quarter of the world’s population, about 1.7 billion people, had internet access. In mid-2011 Facebook has more than 750 million members active worldwide, with nearly 50% of Australians signing up and around 30% using it on their mobile. Is this any wonder, as more than four million Australians use mobile broadband to keep up-to-date and remain internet-connected?
With the market for mobile broadband services critically poised in Australia, operators are progressively rolling out faster and faster networks to support these services. All the major operators are currently upgrading their networks based on the high-speed packet access standard. These companies are expected to provide even faster mobile broadband speeds from late 2011 based on another related standard, long-term evolution, which will support services featuring data rates of at least tens of Mb/s per user. Telstra released a commercial LTE USB devices and plans in August 2011.
More importantly, high-speed packet access and long-term evolution also enable network operators to move towards an all-IP network environment that may reduce network complexity and lower operating costs.
This report provides some background information on the technologies, commentary and analysis of the major high-speed packet access networks in Australia, and considers the prospects for operators as they move towards deploying long-term evolution past the trial basis. We also provide some statistics on data throughput on the various networks throughout the text and in easy-to-read chart formats.
Companies mentioned
Companies mentioned in this report include – VHA, Vodafone, 3, Optus, Huawei, Telstra, vividwireless, Ericsson, EnergyAustralia, Nokia Siemens Networks, SingTel, Unwired.
Hot topics and technologies mentioned
Hot topics and technologies mentioned in this report include – HSPA, spectrum, LTE, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA, multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO), TD-LTE.
