Ericsson wins services, HSDPA network deals

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Ericsson has won a deal for the super-fast wireless network technology HSDPA from Israel's largest mobile operator Cellcom, the Swedish firm said on Wednesday.

It also said it had signed a five-year managed services contract with Portuguese mobile operator Sonaecom, under which it would provide day-to-day service of both mobile and fixed-telecom networks.

Ericsson did not give an order value for the deals but said deliveries to Cellcom, which is owned by Discount Investment Corp, would begin later this year.

HSDPA, which works as a turbo charger on regular 3G networks, will offer download speeds of up to 14Mb/s, several times faster than what is available now.

"Users will be able to download 1MB of music five time faster than with the current 3G connection," Ericsson said in a statement.

Ericsson has said before it expects a mass market for HSDPA to take off in 2006, with the first launches beginning towards the end of this year.

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