LTE Component Makers Already Looking Toward LTE-Advanced, Heavy Reading Finds

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A full ecosystem of silicon devices has been developed to support LTE, and component manufacturers are beginning to sample the first devices that support LTE-Advanced, a developing standard that will provide up to 3 Gbit/s downlink speeds, according to a major new report from Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com), the research division of Light Reading (www.lightreading.com).

LTE Baseband, RF & Application Processors: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis identifies and analyzes the full spectrum of vendors developing LTE components for both base stations and user devices. The report includes not only granular information on the components and systems themselves – of interest to system OEMs, smartphone developers and service providers – but also insights into how the overall market and ecosystem is developing – of interest to a wide audience, including investors.

This report is based on interviews conducted with a wide range of LTE silicon vendors over four months, along with product and volume information supplied by vendors. The tables presented in the report are based on product documentation and supplemental data from our interviews and email conversations. The report evaluates and analyzes the products and strategies of 30 leading vendors in this rapidly growing market, including more than 70 baseband, RF and application processors from these companies.

For the full list of included service providers, please see:
http://img.lightreading.com/heavyreading/pdf/hr20111004_companies.pdf

"Carrier commitment to LTE continues to grow, now including 166 operators across 62 countries," notes Simon Stanley, Analyst at Large with Heavy Reading and author of the report. "A total of 24 operators have launched commercial LTE networks in 16 countries, making LTE the fastest-growing wireless technology in the world."

Initial networks are using single-band USB dongles for subscriber terminals and dual-mode LTE handsets, Stanley explains. "Multimode handsets supporting 2G/3G/LTE will be the next wave, starting in 2012. Using the silicon devices already developed, the next generation of handsets will be multiband, supporting 2G/3G and possibly multiple LTE bands. Meanwhile, the first silicon devices with features such as carrier aggregation and multi-user MIMO to support LTE-Advanced are already sampling to system developers."

Key findings of LTE Baseband, RF & Application Processors: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis include the following:

A full LTE ecosystem, including more than 50 silicon devices, has developed specifically to support LTE. Of the more than 70 silicon devices covered in this report, more than 50 have been designed specifically for LTE or have had features added to support LTE.

The majority of LTE silicon supports 100Mbit/s Cat 3 LTE. Most of the silicon solutions designed for both user devices and LTE base stations support 100Mbit/s Cat 3 LTE. A small number of older devices are limited to 50MHz Cat 2 LTE, and a few of the latest devices will support 150MHz Cat 4.

Vendor consolidation is driving a very competitive handset silicon market. Due to some high-profile acquisitions, ST-Ericsson, Renesas, Intel and Nvidia all now have both application processors and LTE baseband solutions under one roof.

ARM A9 application processors are used by most vendors; the first A15 cores will arrive by the end of 2011. ARM Cortex A9 processor cores are used by Nvidia, Renesas, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments. Intel has the Atom processor core, and Qualcomm has developed the Scorpion and Krait processor cores.

LTE Baseband, RF & Application Processors: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis costs $3,995 and is published in PDF format. The price includes an enterprise license covering all of the employees at the purchaser's company.

For more information, or to request a free executive summary, contact:

Dave Williams
Global Director of Sales, Heavy Reading
(858) 829-8612
[email protected]

Press/analyst contact:

Jennifer Baker
Marketing Director, Light Reading Communications Network
617-871-1910
[email protected]

Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com) is an independent research organization offering deep analysis of emerging telecom trends to network operators, technology suppliers, and investors. Its product portfolio includes in-depth reports that address critical next-generation technology and service issues, market trackers that focus on the telecom industry's most critical technology sectors, exclusive worldwide surveys of network operator decision-makers that identify future purchasing and deployment plans, and a rich array of custom and consulting services that give clients the market intelligence needed to compete successfully in the $4 trillion global telecom industry. As a telecom research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network, Heavy Reading contributes to the only integrated business information platform serving the global communications industry.

The Light Reading Communications Network (www.lrcn.com) combines the most trusted telecom research brands with award-winning online communities and a rich events portfolio to deliver the only integrated business information platform serving the global communications industry. With the power of this platform, leaders who build, deploy, finance, and regulate next-generation telecom networks are able to make more informed decisions on emerging market and service opportunities. The Light Reading Communications Network is a division of UBM TechWeb (www.ubmtechweb.com), the global leader in technology media and business information.

SOURCE Heavy Reading