Telecoms equipment manufacturer Ericsson revealed this week that it is testing faster High Speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA) mobile data communications capable of delivering 14.4Mbit/s of downstream bandwidth on Vodafone’s networks.

The vendor has already upgraded the operator’s infrastructure to support 1.8Mbit/s in 17 UK towns and cities, with commercial services already available.

“Vodafone has not released a date for it yet, but the 14.4Mbit/s HSDPA will be deployed into operator networks when the operators are ready,” said Ericsson UK managing director Jacqueline Hey. Vodafone declined to comment.

The HSDPA upgrades involve hardware and software changes to existing Vodafone base stations, meaning no additional network coverage will be provided. Hey added that the upgrades are designed primarily to provide end-users with extra bandwidth and more reliable connections. “It will reduce latency on current 3G connections, and minimise delays and errors. That’s almost an integral feature of how HSDPA is designed,” she added.

Recent IT Week tests of Vodafone’s Mobile Connect HSDPA PC card achieved downstream rates of around 1.2Mbit/s in central London, and upstream rates of 340kbit/s.