Sonaecom and Huawei have announced the launch of Soanecom's HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Evolution) services in Portugal. The new mobile broadband service is said to allow Sonaecom to offer an improved user experience to customers with lower latency and much higher speed. Via 64 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) in the air interface, Sonaecom's HSPA+ network supports downlink data rate of up to 21.6 Mbps.
"Due to Huawei's smooth introduction of HSPA+ on our existing network, the new technology can help us maintain our leading position in the Portuguese competitive market," said Mr. José Pinto Correia, CTO of Sonaecom. "This new technology will enable our customers to enjoy higher speed and higher quality mobile broadband services, while delivering more capacity to our network."
To enhance Sonaecom's existing UMTS network, Huawei provided an end-to-end solution with state-of-the-art HSPA+ networks and customised mobile broadband modems.
"We are pleased to contribute towards Sonaecom's growing market leadership," said James Xie, Managing Director of Huawei, Portugal. "Huawei's proven All-IP fixed mobile convergence solutions enable consistent delivery of compelling and differentiated services anytime, anywhere, via any terminal that extends market leadership of operators worldwide."
Sonaecom launched HSPA+ services after a successful technology trial carried out in June 2009, in which the maturity of the technology was proven. The trial phase has been supported by Huawei and Qualcomm and uses terminal equipment featuring Qualcomm's MDM8200 HSPA+ chipset.