LG has developed the first handset (user equipment)
modem chip based on 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE)?technology
standards.
Thechip can supports wireless download
speeds of 100Mbps (megabits per second) and upload speeds of 50Mbps.
LG
demonstrated the chip at its Mobile Communication Technology
Research Lab in Anyang, Korea, achieving wireless download speeds of 60
Mbps and upload speeds of 20 Mbps. The fastest phones currently on the
market use HSDPA technology and download at a maximum speed of 7.6 Mbps.
"Now that LG has
developed and tested the first 4G handset modem, a commercially viable
LTE handset is on the horizon," said Dr. Woo Hyun Paik, CTO of LG
Electronics. "This latest breakthrough gives us a strong technology
advantage that we will use to bolster our industry leadership."
Most
of the major mobile operators are pursuing LTE-based 4G technology.
Because it is based on the existing WCDMA technology evolutionary path,
85 percent of WCDMA service-provided carriers will be able to upgrade
their networks to LTE with far less cost than building a new network
based on a different technology.
According to market research
company Strategy Analytics, the global LTE handset market
Mobile phone carriers have now built
LTE test networks and are currently working on early stage handsets.
The first LTE mobile phones will likely reach the market in 2010.