I had an interesting discussion for a couple of days ago about the future of WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+. Will the technology live a long life or be pushed out by other RF technologies?
There are operators (specially in emerging countries) who believe that the future belongs to GSM and LTE. They believe that GSM will survive because it is the best option for speech, both when it comes to quality and cost. Most of the mobile operators have wide GSM installed base and can use it for many years ahead. However GSM technology does not fulfill the requirements for today's advanced data applications. LTE and LTE advanced with data speed over 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps are the best options here.
If this scenario becomes a reality then vendors must not only have SDR units in the base station but also RNC must be reconfigurable to BSC and/or eNB when the time is in. Big challenge!
