Nokia Prepping HSPA Wireless Dongle ModemNokia Prepping HSPA Wireless Dongle Modem

Nokia, which sells more handsets than its next three competitors combined, is planning to offer HSPA dongles early next year in a move that could boom the nascent market because of Nokia's sheer size and presence in the wireless market.

In taking aim at the HSPA market, Nokia is targeting the largest emerging market for 3G cell phones. HSPA is utilized in the United States by AT&T, which currently has more subscribers than any other U.S. wireless service provider. Verizon Wireless and Sprint have offered dongles and modem cards for their CDMA service for several months.

"The market for HSPA modems is expected to grow very rapidly during the coming years," said Tapio Markki, Nokia's vice president for hardware platform components, according to the Reuters news service. "Leveraging these capabilities, we believe we are well-positioned to become one of the winning providers for HSPA modem solutions."

The modem dongle market is a growing new opportunity for service providers, which have been providing the dongles in increasing numbers to subscribers who typically want to use their laptops in situations where there is no wired or Wi-Fi access.

Huawei pioneered the dongle market in 2006 with its HSDPA E220 USB dongle modem. Earlier this year, Sony Ericsson unveiled two HSPA USB modems for high-speed access. The Sony devices also include built-in flash memory and a GPS receiver. Nokia didn't elaborate on the features It plans to include in its dongles. Ericsson and Lenovo have a partnership with AT&T Mobility to cooperate on the development of laptops with HSPA embedded.

Earlier this week, Radio Shack announced that it is marketing an Acer netbook with integrated AT&T Data Connect service. The device sells for $99 and requires a two-year service agreement for plans starting at $60-a-month for the wireless broadband service.