Impact of the HSPDA-Based Mobile Broadband Access on the Investment of the 3G Access Network

There are several technologies for providing broadband services over wireless and cellular networks. The fundamental one in the evolution from 3G to 4G is probably the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSPA) technology. There are many works in the literature tackling the problem of HSPA performance and capacity. Most of the developed techniques involving HSPA capacity are related to the system operation. This approach is specially useful when the network planner tries to evaluate how the system works, however, it is not the case when the mobile network operator is doing the business plan and whise to evaluate the return of investment. This paper provides a simple and novel methodology for estimating the additional investment required to provide High Speed Down-link Packet Access (HSDPA) in a 3G mobile network given a user service profile. This method is useful for techno-economic studies for mobile operators, consulting firms and national regulatory agencies.