MANILA, Philippines – With the current growth in the demand for mobile Internet services, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company is set to launch a faster version of its current HSDPA (high speed data packet access) standard offered through PLDT WeRoam and Smart Bro.

The HSPA 850 platform will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year. It will target areas that cannot be reached by current the company’s next-generation network, digital subscriber line (DSL) and broadband wireless services.

During a press conference, PLDT President and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said the HSPA 850 is a natural progression for the wireless broadband technology.

He said will be layered onto the third-generation network of their mobile phone subsidiary Smart Communications.

HSPA 850 makes it more viable to deploy as it has relatively lower capital expense.

There are also several mobile phones, data cards, routers, and modems that can accept HSPA 850 signals.

Nazareno noted that HSPA 850 has been successfully installed in Australia, US, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina.

HSPA 850 is actually one of two radio frequencies that are in the broadband frequency sets. It is estimated to have a peak speed of 7.2 megabits per second.

Current wireless broadband services of PLDT and Smart provide about 2 Mbps data speed.