3G tech for high-speed downloads on cellphones by year-end

By the end of this year, you might just be able to download your favourite video clip in a few seconds and a whole movie in a couple of minutes on your mobile phone.

This will be possible with the country's GSM operators' plan to launch high-speed downlink packet access third generation services, skipping the lower end of the technology roadmap.

With download speeds of 3.6 mbps commercially available across the globe (which could go up to 14.4 mbps), high-speed downlink packet access will offer download speeds at least 50 times faster than EDGE phones now and 90 times faster than that of the current GPRS services.

Once this service hits the market, mobile TV, video-on-demand services and real-time multi-player gaming will be possible.

The 3G technology roadmap began with the wideband code division multiple access. High-speed downlink packet access is the more evolved version, and will offer download speeds double that of the former and, potentially, seven times higher.

However, the cost differential between the two networks is an incremental investment of 10 per cent to 15 per cent.

There are over 93 networks across the globe that offer high-speed downlink packet access services and Indian operators are all set to join this exclusive club.

"Mobile operators in India will move to high-speed downlink packet access directly because it offers true mobile broadband speeds, the only way broadband penetration in India can go up. We feel Wimax will only complement this as a fixed broadband technology (replacing DSL connections)," said TV Ramachandran, director general, Cellular Operators' Association of India.

"Mobile Wimax is too expensive, commercially untested and will require capital expenditure that could be 5-10 times more than high-speed downlink packet access," Ramachandran said mobile broadband could also ensure connectivity and communication in rural India cost effectively.