Qualcomm gets cozy with LTE, makes migrating from CDMA a snap
by Chris Ziegler 
posted Feb 8th 2008 at 4:00AM
What if Toshiba were to produce a Blu-ray player? If there's one surefire sign that a company is recognizing the mortality of its own standards, it's throwing some support behind the competition's -- and that's exactly what Qualcomm has done in announcing new roadmaps for its mobile and cellular base station chipsets that include LTE. LTE, one of several 4G standards competing for the hearts and minds of carriers across the world, has a huge leg up on Qualcomm's own UMB and WiMAX (which is technically a pre-4G standard, anyway) by having the blessing of the GSM Association, the global juggernaut of mobile industry organizations. Anyway, Qualcomm's new plans call for future chipsets to support various flavors of UMTS, HSPA, and EV-DO, theoretically making it easier for carriers of all creeds to migrate to LTE while still supporting legacy cells and devices. The new silicon is expected to be available next year, and without a single major carrier having signed up for UMB, we'd say that's not a moment too soon.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Randy @ Feb 8th 2008 9:06AM
If you can't beat'em then join'em. I sincerely hope that Qualcomm doesn't start playing the "Patent Sweeper" (like Minesweeper) games like they do now with WCDMA.
evengrift @ Feb 8th 2008 10:28AM
I'm calling bullshit here, WiMax is to be a 4G Standard by any measure I've seen out there. The standards for the bandwidth rates need to be written, but no one else has written such standards either. Keep in mind the WiMax standard in place now is 802.16e-2005, as in as of 2005, lots of overhead here folks, they'll reach the bar for 4G without a problem. Only the GSM loons would argue otherwise, because tdma is just *such* a good technology. And hard hand-offs are still in effect for the vast majority of carriers.
Calling 802.16 not a 4G standard is like saying 802.11 = 802.11b. Anyone still selling 802.11b routers?
You do not improve throughput by slicing allocations by time and frequency. You have to move voice out of that sillyness to free-up that frequency for technology.
Lets take a dose of reality folks:
GSM now embraces CDMA (with the WCDMA derivative), a qualcomm/MOT technology. GSM with LTE will move further into the CDMA space, as leaders (WiMax/HIPERMAN/WiBro), move on to OFDM.
VZW is a wireless carrier sourcing the majority of their hardware with Qualcomm chipsets. VZW has announced their intention to move to LTE, obviously in part to enhance international roaming. Who doesn't think Qualcomm wants in on that action?
Now lets look at LTE deployment vs. Other Technologies.. How much LTE has been built? O, zip, nada, nothing. Designed? Uhhh.. yeah, same zip, nada, none, at least they've ratified a standard... Uhh about that, "we're working on it". Great.
What does this mean for a commitment from Qualcomm then? Absolutely nothing, nada, zip, zero, this costs Qualcomm nothing, and they get to blow the VZW a little public kiss.
And before anyone has delusions of HSOPA grandeur, when do you think thats going to happen? consider the slow embrace of WCDMA (Hello T-Mobile, where art thou?). And where are they going to slot it? Not compatibe with CDMA derived technologies, or TDMA for that matter. Anyone think ATT is going to start pulling down the HSDPA/HSUPA equipment they just started to put up?
RC @ Feb 11th 2008 12:34AM
You moron, LTE IS HSOPA. Currently the 3GPP is pusing for release 8 of UMTS to be the HSOPA standard itself. You're also ignorant to the fact that the government is holding back T-Mobile, because they have taken a long time to vacate the AWS spectrum T-Mobile won in the auction. Not to mention it takes more time to go from GSM-UMTS then it takes to go from CDMA-EVDO. It involves hardware swaps, although some hardware is shared. Going from UMTS-LTE will be a snap for companies like AT&T and T-Mobile because both share the same interface, so a simple swap of hardware in the transceivers will put LTE online.
LTE is going to IP based, like WiMAX, and uses OFDMA. The fact that more companies are supporting LTE (especially the no. 1 and 2 cellcos in the US) could push Sprint and WiMAX out of existence in the USA. Sprint is on a spiral path down, and lack of others jumping on the WiMAX bandwagon could leave them out to die.
evengrift @ Feb 17th 2008 12:06PM
LTE has not finalized on a technology be it HSOPA or anything else (HSOPA is currently NOT a 4G Technology mind you).
How am I the moron? T-Mobile negotiated the bad deal, your defending it would make YOU the moron.
RC @ Feb 18th 2008 6:12PM
I'm not defending T-Mobile's decision. I could care less if they ever got 3G rolled out because I'm not a customer and even if it was up I wouldn't be able to roam on it if needed. All I'm saying is it's not entirely T-Mobile's fault for the painfully slow 3G rollout.
apjain @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:34AM
LTE might be ratified before 2nd half of this year--they've been working feverishly on it and the amount of money involved from carriers selecting vendors means everyone's eager to get onboard.