NSN claims it can "double data speeds" at cell edge

Nsn And Qualcomm To Demonstrate Hspa+ Multiflow At Mwc

Operators will soon be able double mobile broadband speeds for consumers at the edge of a base station cell, by allowing devices to connect with a second base station that serves a neighbouring cell, Nokia Siemens Networks has said.

NSN and Qualcomm will be jointly demonstrating the HSPA+ Multiflow feature at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, next week.

The feature enables the simultaneous transmission of two data streams from two adjacent cells to one single consumer device. Currently, technology on the marketonly enables one data stream to be transmitted to a device from one base station, except for when a user is moving from one cell area to another, when the consumer can benefit from a “soft handover”.

However, NSN claimed that HSPA+ Multiflow can up to double throughput and data speeds for users at cell edge and provide up to 50 per cent faster response compared to existing HSPA+ networks.

The feature is expected to be 3GPP standardised by mid-2012, and will be available commercially from NSN by second half of 2013. Operators will be able to add the feature to their existing HSPA networks with a simple software upgrade, according to the infrastructure vendor.