LTE:Finland: Broadcom Corporation, Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) have demonstrated LTE Advanced.Category 6.

LTE: Finland:  Broadcom Corporation, Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) have demonstrated LTE Advanced.Category 6.

Francisco De Jesùs.

Broadcom Corporation, Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) have demonstrated LTE Advanced (LTE-A) carrier aggregation Category 6 (Cat 6) data rates of 300 Mbps on a live commercial network of Finnish operator Elisa.

The end-to-end test was completed on Elisa’s commercial LTE network in Finland with Broadcom’s LTE-A Cat 6 technology using inter-band carrier aggregation and NSN’s Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station. The test was performed by aggregating two 20 MHz channels in the 1800 MHz band (LTE Band 3) and the 2600 MHz band (LTE Band 7) to reach speeds of 300 Mbps.

After jointly building LTE networks on 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz, NSN enabled the operator to launch 800 MHz LTE network in January earlier this year.

Broadcom will demonstrate LTE-A Cat 6 data rates on NSN infrastructure at the upcoming Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, February 24-27.

Broadcom first time won a Samsung LTE phone design

WorldWide Tech & SCience. Francisco De Jesùs.

Qualcomm, Broadcom and Intel are the most known players in this LTE chipsets race, with Qualcomm leading this market since 2011.

What Broadcom won?

Broadcom announced at its analyst day that it had won a Samsung LTE design with its latest integrated apps processor and LTE baseband.

Broadcom is selling Samsung the entire platform -- modem, RF, connectivity, apps processor -- and given that the low end of the market is where all of the really attractive growth is, this design could open the doors to many more design wins and, therefore, very nice top- and bottom-line growth for Broadcom.

What is the scope?

Broadcom will be up against many players going forward. While Broadcom seems to be the No. 2 player in integrated LTE SoCs, the No. 2 player in discrete LTE modems appears to be Intel. To illustrate, Broadcom is sampling its LTE-Advanced, category 6 modem during the first half of 2014 -- likely in the second quarter.

That implies that volume shipments won't happen until late 2014/early 2015. Intel, on the other hand, claims that its own modem with similar specifications is on track for launch in handsets during the first half of 2014. Fortunately for Broadcom, Intel's integrated LTE SoC won't hit the market until early 2015,  giving Broadcom a nice head start.

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ZTE, Huawei sign billion-dollar deals with US chip firms Qualcomm, Broadcom and Avago.

WorldWide Tech Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Chinese smartphone-maker ZTE has signed contracts worth US$5 billion with US chipset vendors Qualcomm and Broadcom, according to regulatory filings. The agreement with Qualcomm is worth US$4 billion and will cover chip supplies for the period 2012-15. The Broadcom deal is valued at US$1 billion and will cover 2012-14.

Meanwhile, ZTE’s Chinese rival Huawei handed contracts worth US$6 billion to a trio of US chip firms - Qualcomm, Broadcom and Avago – over the weekend. It said the deals “underscore Huawei’s continued commitment to the US market and… will directly and indirectly create over tens of thousands of job opportunities for US.”

According to recent figures from IDC, ZTE shipped 17.1 million mobile devices in Q4 2011 (a 4 percent global market share) making it the world's fifth-largest vendor, just behind Korean rival LG, which shipped 17.7 million (a 4.1 percent share). The Chinese firm also sold 12 million smartphones in 2011 thanks to strong sales of low-cost models for local operators such as China Unicom. 

2013 : 802.11ac to become mainstream WLAN standard, says Broadcom.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

802.11ac will become the mainstream WLAN technology standard as early as the second quarter of 2013 or as late as the first quarter of 2014, according to senior vice president Michael Hurlston for Home and Wireless Networking business unit of Broadcom.

While it took nearly three years for 802.11n to become the mainstream WLAN standard, 802.11ac is expected to take the mainstream status in only one and half years after related applications enter the market because of the already mature environment for applications and the standard's technological advantage, Hurlston indicated.

Broadcom has offered its 5G Wi-Fi series chips based on 802.11ac for adoption by vendors of different types of terminal devices, Hurlston said. Based on these vendors' road maps of products, 802.11ac-enabled wireless routers will be launched in mid-2012, wireless gateways in the third quarter, TVs, STBs and Blu-ray Disc player and other multimedia devices in the fourth quarter of 2012, while tablet PCs and smartphones equipped with built-in 802.11ac modules will come to the market in the fourth quarter of 2012 or the first quarter of 2013, Hurlston indicated. 

The time for 802.11ac to become the mainstream WLAN standard hinges on popular use in smartphones, Hurlston pointed out.

Broadcom has partnered with 14 enterprises for its 5G Wi-Fi chip solutions, including Microsoft, LG Electronics, Motorola, Best Buy, Comcast, Buffalo, Belkin, Netgear, China-based Lenovo and Taiwan-based Asustek Computer and D-Link, Hurlston said