Polish operator Sferia first to launch HSPA+ on the 900 MHz band

Poland, a country that has been battling with Russia for years now over who invented the delicious beverage known as Vodka, achieved a world first today. Sferia, a local operator, in conjunction with Chinese infrastructure equipment supplier Huawei launched the first HSPA+ network to operate on the 900 MHz band. While Europe has been known for deploying 3G and 3.5G networks on the 2100 MHz band, the 900 MHz band holds two key advantages: fewer cell towers are required to cover a given area, therefore reducing an operator’s operating expenses, and 900 MHz waves penetrate buildings better, which give customers better signal. Each user connected to the new HSPA+ network will be capable of downloading at a theoretical rate of 21.6 Megabits per second, and each tower should be able to supply around 60 Megabits per second thanks to Huawei’s nifty pure IP based backhaul.

[Via: Cellular News]