MUNICH -- T-Mobile is launching High Speed Data Packet Access technology in its mobile communications network. HSDPA, an extension of the wireless standard W-CDMA, boosts transmission speeds in mobile networks. T-Mobile's primary supplier for this acceleration technology is Siemens Communications. Starting with Germany and Austria, T-Mobile customers can now use their notebook or mobile phone to surf in the Internet at DSL speeds and download large volumes of data such as movies or large e-mail attachments faster than before.

A software update for the base stations shifts the existing W-CDMA network into high gear. Initially, transfer rates of up to 1.8 megabits a second - rather than the previous 384 kilobits - are possible. "To provide our customers with the advantages of mobile broadband connections virtually anytime and anywhere, T-Mobile is systematically building out its existing network infrastructure. Our entire German W-CDMA network will be equipped with the data accelerator HSDPA by May. By the end of the year we will increase the transmission bandwidth to 3.6 megabits and then 7.2 megabits a second," says Dr. Klaus-Jürgen Krath, head of RAN Engineering at T-Mobile International.

"We are proud that T-Mobile is relying on technology from Siemens to introduce the W-CDMA accelerator in Germany and Austria. The demand for data-hungry wireless services - such as television on mobile phones - and the first HSDPA-capable devices that were shown at CeBIT will smooth the way for turbocharged data transmission," says Christoph Caselitz, head of Mobile Networks at Siemens Communications.

Siemens Communications Group