MWC: Nokia Siemens Networks expects 3G use to peak in 2020

BARCELONA: Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) expects 3G use to peak in 2020 as the technology continues to dominate the mobile broadband landscape.

NSN chief executive Rajeev Suri said at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the market for 3G technologies will continue to grow to meet the demands of increasing numbers of mobile devices.

"The HSPA asset will be milked for a long-time yet. Wi-Fi overloading and better traffic management will be needed to manage data growth, but use of 3G will still peak around 2020," he said.

"The ecosystem is there for HSPA and HSPA+, and we are working on specifications with customers on HSPA Advanced network that will go as fast as 672Mbit/s."

This will be good news for users as hardware manufacturers such as Research In Motion continue to bring out devices supporting such standards. RIM announced today that its new PlayBook would support LTE and HSPA+, for example.

Suri explained that NSN had recovered well from its position a year ago to achieve significant market growth in a number of areas, and is confident that its offerings will help the firm to continue this recovery in 2011.

Suri also touched on NSN's expected acquisition of assets from Motorola's wireless division in the North American market, saying that it is still expected go through in the first quarter of 2011 and will give the firm a huge boost in this area.

"We have shown modest organic growth in the US market, but the significant assets we will take over from Motorola will give us a much stronger base and foothold in the US," he said.

"We are focused on bringing these assets onboard as soon as possible, so we continue to target getting the deal done in the first quarter of this year."

NSN is currently having the Motorola deal challenged in court by Huawei over claims that patented technology information the firm shared with Motorola will end up being available to NSN.

Suri also noted that there are ongoing discussions by the company's owners over bringing in private equity investors, but dismissed talks of selling the company to become a private entity.