Nokia Siemens Networks announced today that it has come up with a way to double the speed of its EDGE networks. Called Dual Carrier EDGE, the new software will be an upgrade to existing EDGE-capable GSM networks.
Nokia Siemens Networks also revealed that it will continue to develop the EDGE technology and will soon introduce EGPRS 2 which will allow downlink speeds of up to 1.2 Mbps and will double uplink speed to up to 473 kbps. EGPRS 2 will effectively quadruple the speed of EDGE.
While it looks like the carriers will need minimal hardware upgrades for Dual Carrier EDGE, it’s not so clear whether current phones will be compatible with it.