US : Qualcomm Incorporated announced that it has expanded both its device and base station chipset roadmaps to include Long Term Evolution (LTE). The new family of three multi-mode Mobile Data Modem(TM) (MDM(TM)) chipsets will deliver significant flexibility to the industry by supporting LTE, as well as other 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards.

The MDM9xxx-series chipsets will allow UMTS and CDMA2000(R) operators to upgrade seamlessly to future LTE services while preserving backward compatibility to their existing 3G UMTS and CDMA2000 networks. The LTE solutions are scheduled to sample in the second quarter of 2009.

"Qualcomm is in a very unique position with LTE, being one of the very few companies that will be able to offer multi-mode solutions that deliver an upgrade path for operators looking to complement their existing 3G networks with LTE," said Steve Mollenkopf ( inset ), senior vice president of product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.

"We are pleased that we will be able to leverage our industry-leading technology position to offer LTE solutions to our customers." The new family of MDM9xxx-series LTE device chipsets will include: -- MDM9200(TM) chipset designed to support UMTS, HSPA+ and LTE -- MDM9800(TM) chipset designed to support EV-DO Rev. B, UMB and LTE -- MDM9600(TM) chipset designed to support UMTS, HSPA+, EV-DO Rev. B, UMB and LTE All three MDM9xxx-series chipsets will offer full backward compatibility.

The chipsets will support FDD and TDD duplex modes, different carrier bandwidths and will be capable of supporting peak data rates of up to 50 Mbps on the downlink and 25 Mbps on the uplink. Qualcomm is a leader in the 3GPP standards process, which is expected to develop the core set of LTE technology specifications by year-end 2008. LTE is a next-generation mobile phone specification that will use orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology.