Contributors: Bob Wheeler, Jag Bolaria, Joseph Byrne In This Issue Qualcomm Launches 4G Battle At CTIA, Qualcomm launched its first salvo in the 4G cellular battle, preannouncing two products supporting its Ultra-Mobile Broadband (UMB) technology. Formerly known as EVDO Rev C, UMB uses OFDMA and MIMO techniques to deliver up to 40Mbps to the handset, with an uplink speed of 10Mbps. Phones with EVDO Rev A are currently available, and Qualcomm plans to sample its first EVDO Rev B chip, the MSM7850, in late 2007. Rev B offers downlink speeds of up to 9.3Mbps. The MSM7850 can be coupled with a new chip, the MDM8900, that provides the UMB baseband. The UMB standard is expected to be finalized by mid-2007, with the MDM8900 due to follow in 1Q08. Qualcomm also announced that its first infrastructure device for UMB, the CSM8900, will sample in 2Q08. This schedule will allow the first UMB phones to ship to consumers in 2009. The company demonstrated UMB technology at CTIA, but this demo did not use any standard products. UMB competes with LTE, the so-called long-term evolution of the GSM standard. LTE also uses OFDMA and MIMO and aims for similar data rates. But the LTE standard continues to be developed, and no vendor has announced a schedule for LTE chips. Still, as in the 3G transition, Qualcomm's CDMA/EVDO customers are likely to move to UMB, while the GSM/UMTS world moves to LTE. A wildcard is WiMax, which Intel has been promoting as a 4G option. WiMax had garnered little support until recently. At CTIA, Sprint Nextel announced plans to deploy WiMax networks in 19 cities by the end of 2007 and to cover a third of the United States by the end of 2008. Unlike UMB and LTE, WiMax is available in chips today, but it lacks the backing of cellular standards bodies. Most cellular carriers appear willing to monitor Sprint's success before jumping on the WiMax wagon. —Linley Additional coverage of Qualcomm's processors appears in our report A Guide to Wireless Handset Processors. Most speakers at CTIA agreed that a lot of people want to watch TV on their cell phones, but the method of delivery caused fierce disagreements. At the end of 2006, more than 3 million people subscribed to some sort of mobile TV service, according to In-Stat. The largest provider is MobiTV, which recently surpassed 2 million subscribers. Because MobiTV sends video as a data stream, it runs on dozens of phones; the picture quality depends on the speed of the network, but it can be quite good on the newest phones. Earlier this month, Qualcomm launched its MediaFlo service in 22 U.S. cities. MediaFlo is available to Verizon subscribers; AT&T also plans to offer the service later this year. MediaFlo broadcasts eight digital TV channels using the frequency formerly assigned to UHF Channel 55 (700MHz). Currently, only two phones (one from LG and one from Samsung) contain the Qualcomm chip required to receive the new broadcasts. Other standards, including DVB-H and ISDB-T, are being deployed around the world. DVB-H service is available in Italy, and ISDB-T is offered in Japan. The advantage of these broadcast services is that they offload video from the cellular network. Using 3G (UMTS) technology, a handful of video users can tie up an entire cell site. But with increasing deployment of faster technologies such as HSDPA and even WiMax, pumping lots of video across the network becomes feasible. Furthermore, unicast video can provide access to a broader range of programming, personalized advertising, and even DVR-like start/stop features, and it requires no incremental cost to the handset. Qualcomm's reported $800 million investment in its MediaFlo network has given that technology an early lead among mobile broadcast technologies. As 3.5G handsets become common, however, we expect unicast services to be most popular, with broadcast being most appropriate for live programming such as news and sports. —Linley Complete coverage of mobile TV processors will appear in a future report from The Linley Group.
Another key theme at CTIA was reducing the cost of handsets. Chip vendors are responding to this need by integrating more functions into the baseband processor, specifically targeting the radio subsystem. Texas Instruments has gained attention with its LoCosto and eCosto devices. Qualcomm has introduced a family of integrated-radio products under the name QXC, focusing on its CDMA technology. Infineon participates in this market using its eGOLD products. Other baseband vendors are scrambling to address this trend. Last week, NXP finalized its acquisition of Silicon Labs' cellular radio products for $285 million. NXP plans to integrate these CMOS transceivers into its Nexperia baseband processors. Broadcom has developed its own CMOS radio technology and is working to integrate this technology into its baseband products. Freescale is taking a different approach, combining the baseband and radio chips in a multichip package called RCP. Although the vendors promote these devices as integrating the radio, most require an external power amplifier chip and other analog circuitry to complete the radio subsystem. Still, this technique is quite useful in reducing the cost and board area of handsets. By 2008, baseband vendors that do not have CMOS radio technology will be unable to compete for low-cost handsets. —Linley Additional coverage of these products appears in our report A Guide to Wireless Handset Processors.
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