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Bell Shrugs off Rogers’ HSPA+

Categories: Bell Mobility, HSPA+, Rogers
By: , IntoMobile
Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 1:21 PM

Rogers is promising 21 Mbps to Toronto at the end of the month, and spreading to the rest of Canada in due time, but internally-released counterpoints bring up some valid facts:

Key reasons why Bell is not concerned:
1. Rogers deployment of HSPA+ will start in August with a progressive roll out of the pocket coverage in the Greater Toronto Area ONLY
- Expansion timing and locations are unknown at this time since Rogers is very vague with roll out plans

2. Canada-wide rollout of Rogers HSPA+ netowrk will follow over time
- Bell plans to offer a national HSPA network at launch
- It has taken Rogers over 3 years to deploy 3G (HSPA) coverage to 78% of the Canadian population
- Bell offers 3G (EVDO) coverage to 89% of the Canadian population – the largest 3G coverage in Canada

3. Rogers plans to offer (1) Mobile Internet Stick at time of initial HSPA+ launch
- There are no HSPA+ phones and smartphones available commercially in the world today
- None of Rogers 3G devices today will be able to take advantage of 21Mbps speeds
- Most of Rogers devices are 2G (they only have one 3G BlackBerry whereas ALL of Bell’s BlackBerry devices are 3G)

There’s certainly something to be said about the lack of devices available, a situation we’re seeing south of the border as well. I’d certainly like to see 21 Mbps on phones and not just just internet sticks, but that ball is squarely in manufacturers’ corners. In fact, Rogers deserves a high five for proving some pull pressure for OEMs to get some HSPA+ handsets out the door before LTE rolls around. It’s true that Rogers will likely take its sweet time getting HSPA+ out there, especially to the more sparsely-populated areas, and they’ll need the head start before Bell and Telus flip the switch to GSM.

[via MobileSyrup]

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • QueenOfSpin

    Rogers has been installing HSPA for a couple of years now. Their equipment is older and requires investment or replacement to be LTE. Bell and Telus have been installing the newest version of HSPA equipment that is upgradable to LTE by adding a card or just software. It makes sense that Bellus will go HSPA+ without much trouble… a license upgrade… and this technology will be NATIONAL at 100% of their sites, not just core areas.

    Rogers is really good at SPIN. This one-upmanship is continuous. But technically, Rogers will now lag for a while.

  • Breadsm

    I know this is a very old post but even at that time this statement is false
    “- There are no HSPA+ phones and smartphones available commercially in the world today”
    Just because North America doesn’t have them, you don’t have to generalize to the world