T-Mobile completes HSPA upgrade, doubling capacity

T-Mobile (NYSE:DT) said today it has completed upgrading its high-speed packet access (HSPA) network to support 7.2 Mb/s of downlink capacity, theoretically making it the fastest 3G network in the country. Though T-Mobile's 200-million-pops network covers less ground than its bigger competitors', T-Mobile has taken advantage of its relatively new Nokia Siemens Networks (NYSE:NOK, NYSE:SI) and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) equipment to accelerate its 3G upgrade path, making up for what it lacks in coverage with capacity.

From a technical standpoint, a T-Mobile cell can support nearly double the downlink capacity of its competitors, though the topology of the network and the number of users on each cell can greatly affect the real speeds available to its customers. AT&T (NYSE:T) is in the process of upgrading its own 3G network from 3.6 Mb/s to 7.2 Mb/s but won't be finished until next year.

Meanwhile Sprint (NYSE:S) and Verizon's (NYSE:VZ, NYSE:VOD) EV-DO revision A network support downlink speeds as great as 3.6 Mb/s, though over much smaller channels, allowing them to deploy multiple channels at each site, which in turn increase overall network capacity if not the capacity available to each customer. Sprint and Verizon Wireless, however, have reached the end of their network migration paths as both operators have chosen not to support EV-DO rev. B. Instead they're looking to 4G, Sprint partnering with Clearwire and Verizon deploying its own Long-Term Evolution network this year.

T-Mobile isn't stopping with the HSPA upgrade, though. It is the first--and so far only--operator to commit to HSPA+, the final 3G iteration on the UMTS evolutionary path, which would triple its current network capacity. HSPA+ increases the modulation of the current of 3G technologies, allowing an HSPA network to squeeze a theoretical 21 Mb/s into a single 5 MHz carrier. If it chooses to add smart antenna technology to HSPA+, those speeds could increase to 42 Mb/s, though only specialized multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) devices could benefit from the capacity increases.

T-Mobile plans to start the HSPA+ upgrade this year, giving a means of fending off the threat of Sprint's WiMax network and Verizon and AT&T's future LTE networks. T-Mobile is the only operator that hasn't specifically laid out 4G plans, though company officials have said they plan to pursue LTE in the future using the PCS spectrum currently occupied by its GSM networks.