A recent very high speed data call, using High-Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) network technology, was the first of its kind in the world, according to Qualcomm Incorporated.

The wireless technologies provider claims that the call had a data transfer rate of more than 20 megabits per second (Mbps) in a five megahertz channel.

HSPA+ would allow operators to double the data and triple the voice capacity of their networks compared with current HSPA deployments, Qualcomm said.

"The call represents another milestone for Qualcomm in the HSPA road map's evolution," said Alex Katouzian, vice president of product management, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.

He explained that the call was achieved on Qualcomm's MDM8200 product, the industry's "first chipset solution for HSPA+". "This is a stepping stone towards commercial deployment of HSPA+, expected early next year."

With HSPA+, end users will enjoy quicker internet connections, and network operators can offer more services to subscribers, according to Katouzian.

Also known as 'HSPA Evolved' or 'HSPA+ Release 7', HSPA+ delivers higher data transfer rates, lower latency, better response times and longer battery life than conventional mobile networks, Qualcomm claims.

Faster data transfer rates

According to Katouzian, previous HSPA releases only enabled downlink data transfer rates of between 1.8 and 14.4 Mbps. Uplink speeds were between 384 kilobits per second and 5.7 Mbps.

"Under HSPA+, downlink and uplink data transfer rates can go up to 28 Mbps and 11 Mbps respectively," he said. "Future HSPA+ releases are expected to support downlink peak rates of between 42 and 84 Mbps, and uplink peak rates of 23 Mbps."

Katouzian added that the future speeds would be achieved by using a variety of advanced techniques, including multiple carriers for transferring data. "This should improve performance for a range of data intensive mobile applications."