We all know that in a few years, Long Term Evolution (LTE), the 4G wireless broadband technology being embraced by mobile carriers across the world is going to rule the airwaves, becoming an important way for us to connect to the Internet. But for now, it seems HSPA aka High Speed Packet Access, the 3G wireless broadband technology rules the planet. HSPA is a common term to embrace all acronyms for HSDPA and HSUPA as well as HSPA+.

According to the GSM Association (GSMA) there will be 150 million HSPA connections worldwide by end of the summer. There are 300 HSPA-networks in 127 countries and about 1500 HSPA devices, GSMA estimates. The data collected by the trade group shows:

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  • Asia-Pacific accounts for almost 50 million live HSPA connections today and will have over 56 million by September 2009.
  • EMEA will reach almost 60 million by the end of September 2009.
  • The US currently will have nearly 37 million by this September, up from 32 million as of now.
  • The Americas will have over four million connections by September 2009.
  • There will be 200 million HSPA connections in the first quarter of 2010.

3gnetworks.gifApparently HSPA networks are becoming connectivity-backbones for the consumer electronics, automotive, energy and utility industries. (By the way, our network site, Earth2Tech has continued and excellent coverage of how utilities and energy companies are using networks to become smarter.

Some analyst firms estimate that there by 2013 will be about 4.5 billion potential wireless subscribers who could access 3G or 4G wireless broadband on their mobile devices. This wireless future becomes increasingly obvious with every passing day.

For instance, today Clearwire introduced its 4G WiMAX service in Vegas. There are about 3.5 million WiMAX connections worldwide, according to the Mavaredis Research report published last week. In another interesting development, in Hong Kong, CSL Limited, a subsidiary of Australia’s Telstra, launched the “Next G” network that is capable of downlink speeds of up to 21Mbps.

These are all signs that the emerging wireless broadband network — regardless of the networking protocol — is good for innovation and innovators. More entrepreneurs should be thinking about leveraging this wireless broadband platform in a more meaningful fashion.

It is an opportunity to create new devices such as the much rumored Apple Tablet device, the CrunchPad, eBook Readers or Digital Frames packed with broadband smarts.

Photos/Infographics courtesy of GSMA.


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