UK mobile operators aim to launch services based on a new generation of super-3G technology called High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) by the end of 2007. The new offerings should provide uplink and downlink data transfer speeds up to four times faster than existing super-3G services based on High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology.

Mobile operator Vodafone confirmed this month that its recent launch of HSUPA technology in Germany will be followed by a UK rollout of the technology later this year. Rival mobile operators T-Mobile and 3 have also announced plans to roll out the technology before the end of 2007, while Orange has plans to introduce an HSUPA service in 2008. O2 is the only UK mobile operator that has no plans for an HSUPA rollout; indeed, O2 has yet to roll out an HSDPA service.

The first HSUPA devices are expected to be datacards for mobile business professionals.

Experts believe the slow takeup of 3G services has taught operators the importance of focusing on services rather than technology. At the height of 3G hype in early 2006, a survey commissioned by customer self-service provider Netonomy and carried out by reasearch firm YouGov revealed that 80 percent of users believed that mobile services were getting more complex.

Commenting on the roll-out of HSUPA, Wireless Intelligence analyst Joss Gillett said mobile operators haved learned to simplify things for customers.

“When 3G was rolled out, operators were saying to people, ‘Go for my 3G offer’ but people were not clear about what 3G was,” Gillett said. “It’s the same with HSDPA and HSUPA. I don’t think that people will really care if it’s 1Mbit/s or 14Mbit/s because that means nothing to them. I think the mobile operators will focus more on offering a service, such as music or mobile TV – areas where consumers understand what they’re getting.”

Gillett believes the operators will “concentrate on marketing their services properly and not using the technology side to drive the market”.

The first 3G network to go live was 3’s in March 2003, which had an initial bandwidth of around 384kbit/s on the downlink and around 50kbit/s on the uplink. HSDPA technology gives around 1.4Mbit/s on the downlink and around 384kbit/s on the uplink. However, bandwidth is not the only performance consideration. Latency, normally measured as time taken for a packet to traverse the network, can also have an important effect on mobile applications. The latency in mobile broadband networks has improved from 800ms for GPRS networks, to 300ms for 3G networks and 120ms for HSDPA mobile networks. Vodafone said the bandwidth provided by its HSUPA network will be 5.5Mbit/s on the downlink and 1.4Mbit/s on the uplink, with latency well below 100ms.