MAKATI City, Philippines -- Smart Communications is promising current users of its wireless broadband service that they won’t have to upgrade their systems once the company activates its faster HSPA (high speed packet access) 850 wireless broadband platform.

In an interview, Ramon Isberto, head of public affairs, said most of the SmartBro Plug-It USB modems being deployed to users are HSPA 850-ready.

"Users won't even have to pay extra for having HSPA 850. They'll only realize they have it when their Internet speed goes faster," Isberto said.

Smart's parent company, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), announced during its third-quarter revenue report that it will be activating its HSPA 850 platform within the fourth quarter of 2008.

It is anticipating an increase in demand for wireless broadband and an increase in data usage for mobile phones with the launch of the faster mobile broadband service.

Isberto said usage of their SmartBro grew in a last few months due to the availability of "netbooks" or small form-factor, low-powered laptops that cost lower than full-scale notebook computers.

HSPA 850 is considered is the next-level upgrade from the existing HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) services.

HSPA 850 has an ideal data transfer speed of up to 7.2 megabits per second, compared to just 2 mbps for current HSDPA services.

PLDT announced recently that SmartBro subscription reached 473,000 as of September 2008. This includes the mobile SmartBro Plug-It and fixed wireless subscribers.

Apart from SmartBro users, Smart's mobile phone users are also expected to benefit from HSPA 850.

While Smart has yet to build a list of commercially available handsets that can accept HSPA 850 signal, Isberto noted that units like the Nokia 77, Nokia 6021, and HTC Touch are some handsets that are HSPA 850-ready.

Isberto said more units that are cheaper will arrive soon. "The idea is that we want more people to start using their phones for more than just calls or text."

He said Smart has lined up new services that will utilize the new HSPA 850. Among these will be video services.