HSPA and HSPA+

HSPA was the key technology that made 3G systems popular, because it really marks the difference in terms of bitrate with the 2G systems.

 HSPA implements MIMO and a 16/64 QUAM modulation in the last release.

With HSDPA/HSUPA the first step towards a flattened network was done. In HSPA+ the intention is going even further. The improvements of HSPA are a lower latency, high data rates, increased capacity, better support to VoIP and improved support for multicast services.

The Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (MBMS) is designed to provide efficient delivery of broadcast and multicast services, like TVIP or videoconferences. This service was already included in previous releases, but until HSPA+ its real implementation was not feasible at all.

MIMO is a technology which uses multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver. It offers increases in data throughput and link range without additional bandwidth or increased transmit power.