Novatel Wireless today announced the Ovation MC950D, a tri-band HSPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS mobile modem. The technology uses the HSUPA (high-speed uplink packet access) standard, which is an upgrade to UMTS/WCDMA and unrelated to HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access). The HSUPA spec lays out hardware that eventually will support uplink connections as fast as 5.76 Mb/s; the MC950D is capped at 2.1 Mb/s while supporting downlink speeds of up to 7.2 Mb/s.

Novatel said that the modem is currently in the final stages of testing with leading carriers throughout the EMEA region and is expected to become commercially available during this quarter.

The Ovation MC950D is currently in the final stages of testing with leading carriers throughout EMEA, and is expected to be commercially available this. There are no U.S. carriers supporting HSUPA at this time.