HSPA connections are expected to hit 1.87 billion by 2015 and grow at a compound annual growth rate of 46%.

The technology’s share of high-speed connections will increase from 31% in 2009 to 59% in 2015, and as a proportion of total global connections it will grow from 4% in 2009 to 25% in 2015, says Ovum. 

In Asia-Pacific, HSPA connections will reach over 829 million while LTE will only hit over 121 million with most Asian LTE connections being found in Japan and Korea and Chinese main urban areas.

Analyst Julien Grivolas explained, “With LTE grabbing so much attention it is easy to ignore the fact that HSPA is a firmly established technology with a mature infrastructure and device ecosystem. Its other advantage is that is has a natural upgrade path in the form of the enhanced HSPA+, which is being deployed in ever-greater volumes in 2010 and will keep getting better and better. Indeed, HSPA+ and its future enhancements could be sufficient for many operators’ needs for the next five years.”

Grivolas expects LTE to take off in 2012, “There is a huge amount of hype surrounding LTE and we expect it to really take off in 2012. However, HSPA will not go out of fashion and mobile operators are not about to turn their backs on it any time soon. The technology is continuing to evolve and operators will keep enhancing their networks for as long as it makes good economic sense.”