3GPP Release 11 contains an interesting work item, the bundling of up to 8 x 5 MHz HSDPA channels in two different bands. Octa-carrier HSDPA with a top downlink data rate with 64QAM modulation and MIMO of 337.5 MBit/s (HSDPA category 36). Sure, the data rate is impressive but I have to wonder if it will be praticable in the real world: I can't think of any network operator who would have 8 channels available. And even if there were some, why would you want to bundle that much spectrum for HSPA when the general trend is to move to LTE anyway? Am I missing something here?
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Might this be an effort to bring HSPA into 4G compliance? The IMT-Advanced spec requires scalable bandwidths of up to (at least) 40 MHz. So perhaps this is just a paper exercise to get a “check in the box” for ITU 4G certification?