No offence to Ericsson, but having read about NTT DoCoMo’s Super 3G trials and their incredible 250Mbps downloads yesterday, their 42Mbps downlink achieved with HSPA Evolution seems a bit mediocre.  Of course, after a quick reality check it’s obviously a significant improvement on the current 7.2Mbps top speed of current HSDPA networks, and the fact that Ericsson are claiming the upgrade technology could be introduced this year puts it ahead of the game compared to Super 3G’s “technically ready in 2009″ timescale. 

“Achieving speeds of up to 42 Mbps is a major industry milestone. It further strengthens the position of HSPA as the major mobile broadband technology as we go forward. Consumers will enjoy an even richer communications experience thanks to higher speeds, while operators will be able to reduce network operating costs via increased throughput enabled by HSPA Evolution” Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio, Ericsson 

As with Super 3G, HSPA Evolution uses Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) antennas to transfer multiple parts of the data stream simultaneously.  However, it only uses 2×2 antennas, and lacks some of Super 3G’s other speed-increasing technology.  The payoff is a far more straightforward upgrade path, and Ericsson claim that the ninety of the 185 HSPA networks in the world that they have installed will be able to “migrate smoothly” to HSPA Evolution.

The company will demonstrate the technology at CTIA next month; no carrier has yet publicly announced a timescale for upgrading their network.