T-Mobile expand W-CDMA networks

May 11, 2006

T-Mobile Deutschland and T-Mobile Austria are buying mobile communications technology and services designed to expand their W-CDMA networks from the Siemens Communications Group. The order, which also includes High Speed Downlink Packet Access technology (HSDPA), is part of a framework contract with T-Mobile. The buildout will be completed by the end of 2006.

The expansion of the W-CDMA networks of T-Mobile in Germany and Austria also includes integration of High Speed Downlink Packet Access technology (HSDPA), which accelerates data transmission in W-CDMA networks by a factor of between eight and sixteen. The transmission rate of 3.6 to 7.2 megabits per second, with peak rates of up to 14 megabits per second, lets users get high-speed access to the Internet via mobile phones or other mobile devices and use multimedia services while traveling. HSDPA even enables the problem-free use of high-throughput applications such as Mobile TV (TV on a mobile phone).

"HSDPA is the most modern and most powerful transmission technology in existence for mobile networks. We are very pleased that T-Mobile has again chosen Siemens as its supplier in offering its customers the latest technology for mobile network access," noted Christoph Caselitz, President Mobile Networks at Siemens Communications.

The technical components to be delivered comprise primarily two products:

Base stations (Node B), which supply the radio cells with signals, and Radio Network Controllers (RNC), which control the base stations. The provision of HSDPA technology is handled with simple software upgrades. Siemens will also take care of the installation and integration of these components.

Siemens had already won an order from T-Mobile in August 2005 to equip its existing W-CDMA base stations in Germany and Austria with HSDPA. This rollout went very smoothly and was completed in just four months.