Telecom exec says 3G iPhone to support 42Mbps HSPA

A senior executive for Australia's Telstra wireless carrier has allegedly told the region's ChannelNews that Apple's upcoming iPhone revision will be capable of supporting an advanced 3G connection at speeds of 42 megabits per second.

"We know what is coming, we have seen the new device and it will be available on our network as soon as it is launched in the USA," the unidentified executive is reported to have said. "By Xmas this phone will be capable of 42mbs which will make it faster than a lot of broadband offerings and the fastest iPhone on any network in the world."

The report goes on to say that Telstra already has 3G iPhones on hand for testing and that the device will be made available to the carrier's customers "very soon after its June 9 unveiling" by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference.

If true, the claim by the unnamed Telstra exec would suggest that Apple is building a wireless broadband chip into its next-gen iPhone that supports an advanced High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) protocol known as Evolved HSPA. In addition to downloads of up to 42 Mbps, Evolved HSPA networks also supports uploads at up to 22 Mbps.

Stateside, AT&T is putting the finishing touches on its own standard HSPA network that currently offers download speeds of 1.4 Mbps and upload rates around 800 Kbps. However, the US carrier promises to follow through on a plan that will boost download speeds to 7.2Mbps in the next year, eventually hitting 20Mbps sometime in 2009.

115 Comments

bageljoey 1997 comments · 18 Years

About 16 years ago

Damn, this is getting exciting. I hope things pan out the way the rumors are going or there is going to be some serious disappointment...

melgross 33607 comments · 20 Years

Considering the size of the files that would be downloaded, this seems about as fast are would ever be needed. I wonder what the true usable speeds will be though.

It should allow for a 4 MB song download in about 4 seconds assuming the usual problems with wireless.

lafe 252 comments · 17 Years

An interesting side-note to this story is that it highlights the HUGE difference
in data infrastructure available in other countries vs. what is available to us
in the USA. AT&T's wonderful 3G upgrade still doesn't get us anywhere near
most civilized countries. And it's not just the speed of the pipes. There's
no DSL where I live, and it's 2008 for goodness' sakes. That's right: If I'm
not at work (in another town), I'm on dial-up.

And we wonder why our students are not as savvy in the info-tech fields.

foo2 1077 comments · 17 Years

This news kinda takes the wind out of the Bluebaby Thunder rumors.

shogun 362 comments · 17 Years

Sounds like a good fit for video iChat.

Back in early 2005 I told a friend that if I had cash I'd buy as much AAPL stock as i could get. "Why?" he said. "Because," said I, "look at all the cash their pulling in on that iPod. You know that they're putting it all right into R&D for something extraordinary."

If I were Apple I would bet the house on an in-freaking-credible iPhone with bells and whistles of the most significant kind coming out of its ears.

Consider, the current iPhone was designed almost 2-3 years ago. There's no reason but battery power that this iPhone shouldn't have everything including GPS, two cameras, iChat AV, a business suite, and even a few colors or sizes.

Actually, the more I think about it the more likely it seems to me that there may be an iPhone Pro that is back up to $499 territory as well as a regular iPhone and then the Touch.

I'm just saying, within 3-5 years they want to completely dominate the top 70% of mobile computing and telephony, and there's absolutely no reason why they can't, shouldn't or won't.