592Kbps EDGE Downloads Offered by Nokia Siemens Networks Upgrade

today Nokia Siemens Networks announced the launch of its new Dual Carrier EDGE upgrade for its 2.5G network base stations. This new software upgrade will allow networks using Nokia Siemens equipment to boost EDGE data speeds on their networks by 100%, bringing EDGE into proper 3G territory. Nokia Siemens has claimed that its new Dual Carrier EDGE solution will be able to offer mobile EDGE devices download speeds that reach 592Kbps. The new software upgrade will be available to carriers in Q3 of this year.

Nokia Siemens also says that it is already working on the next generation of EDGE, EDGE Evolution (also known as EGPRS 2). The company claims that EDGE Evolution devices will enjoy download speeds of up to 1.2Mbps and upload speeds as fast as 473Kbps, which by most standards today would qualify as mobile broadband connectivity.

No word yet from Nokia Siemens Networks as to what type of additional hardware or software support cell phones will require before they will be able to enjoy the faster EDGE data rates, but we do not expect that the upgrades will work retroactively on existing devices.