Samsung Electronics Announces Multi-standard, Multi-band Mobile TV Chipset

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced the industry’s first 65 nanometer (nm) multi-standard channel decoder (S3C4F31) and multi-band radio frequency (RF) tuner (S5M8602) chipset which supports multi digital mobile TV standards including DVB-H/T, DAB-IP, ISDB-T, and terrestrial DMB for the multiple standards in the different countries around the world.

“Although a new market, we see high growth potential in mobile TV applications,” said Yiwan Wong, vice president, Marketing Team, System LSI Division, Semiconductor Business, Samsung Electronics. “With initial product launch targets for the Europe and Asia markets, we are introducing our high performance mobile TV chipset technology with added feature support to serve the needs of the entire mobile TV industry.” Read more

WiMAX Forum adds Taiwan certification lab with Advance Data Technology Corp

The WiMAX Forum announced it has selected Advance Data Technology Corp. (ADT) as the first Asian certification test lab of both fixed and mobile WiMAX certification services at the WiMAX Forum Member Conference in Madrid, Spain. A South Korean lab was announced by WiMAX Forum for Mobile WiMAX certifications in February 2006.

ADT Taiwan, founded in 1988, currently tests EMC, RF, TELECOM, SAFETY, Wi-Fi, and now WiMAX. It also offers a wide range of services including worldwide type approval, SAR, DTV RF Performance, DFS, Antenna Pattern Measurement and NCC Testing & Certification Service etc. Read more

Sprint Expands EV-DO Rev. A Network

Sprint announced that it now reaches more than 203 million people nationwide with EV-DO (Evolution - Data Optimized) Revision (Rev.) A high-speed wireless Internet access technology.

With this network enhancement, customers can receive and send large amounts of data at broadband speeds. Sprint is the first in the industry to offer EV-DO Rev. A technology nationwide. By offering faster mobile broadband service, the broadest portfolio of EV-DO Rev. A-capable devices, and the most competitive data plan and device pricing in the industry, Sprint customers can connect in more ways, in more places, at faster speeds and affordable prices. Read more

$27 Million for WiMAX, HSPA and FemtoCell Chipset Development Goes to picoChip in Growth Round Funding

picoChip announced that it has secured $27 million of new investment in fourth round funding. Highland Capital Partners led the financing round together with undisclosed key strategic investors. Existing investors include Atlas Venture, Pond Venture Partners, Scottish Equity Partners, Rothschild, Intel and AT&T. The new money will fund future growth.

This is picoChip’s largest round to date, which reaffirms the company’s leadership in advanced wireless markets with its WiMAX, HSPA and femtocell products. The round brings total company funding to $70.5 million and delivers a significant boost for picoChip towards extending its success as the only semiconductor company focussed on wireless infrastructure. Read more

Psion Teklogix Delivers EDGE/HSDPA-Powered WORKABOUT PRO on AT&T BroadbandConnect

AT&T Inc. and Psion Teklogix have announced that Psion Teklogix’ WORKABOUT PRO is now available for use on AT&T’s BroadbandConnect and EDGE networks. The WORKABOUT PRO is the first UMTS/HSDPA-enabled rugged device to be introduced in North America.

Under this alliance, sales teams from both AT&T and Psion Teklogix will sell the mobile computing device to customers throughout the U.S. Using the WORKABOUT PRO, mobile employees can collect and interact with data no matter where they are by leveraging the AT&T BroadbandConnect network, which is based on the global 3G standard and currently is available in more than 165 major metropolitan areas across the U.S. Field forces and mobile staff can forgo timely visits to their corporate offices to download information or submit orders, because the solution allows them to transmit data while on the move. The joint solution helps companies increase worker productivity, achieve greater operational efficiency, and it provides enhanced flexibility to end users. Read more

UMC Deploys EV-DO Rev. A Network in Ukraine

Communications solutions provider Alcatel-Lucent and Kvazar-Micro, an IT company providing solutions, products and services in Eastern Europe and CIS, announced that they are jointly deploying a third-generation (3G) CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A high-speed wireless network in Ukraine for UMC, a Ukrainian mobile operator wholly owned by JSC MTS.

The new network, deployed in the 450MHz spectrum band, is expected to enable UMC to introduce new high-speed 3G mobile data services, including enhanced messaging and audio and video streaming services in major Ukrainian cities. CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A enables users to receive data at speeds of up to 3.1Mb/s and send data at speeds of up to 1.8Mb/s. Read more

Red Herring Research Releases Report On Mobile TV

Red Herring Research, a division of Red Herring, Inc., today announced the release of its comprehensive report on the Mobile TV sector. The 110 page report highlights the market drivers and the many investment opportunities in Mobile TV. The report is released as part of the preparation for a Mobile TV panel at Red Herring East held in Boston June 26-28.

The report is targeted to VCs, private equity firms, industry and governments. In addition to profiles on the top 20 private companies, the report identifies the top 5 global semiconductor and top 5 software/services companies leading this emerging industry. Read more

Ericsson to expand and upgrade Maxis WCDMA/HSPA network in Malaysia

Ericsson has been selected by Malaysia’s leading mobile operator, Maxis Communications Berhad (Maxis), to expand and upgrade its WCDMA/HSPA network enabling the operator to provide wireless residential broadband services to major cities and towns on mainland Malaysia.

Under the agreement, Ericsson will supply, integrate and deploy radio access network equipment and deliver radio optimization services. The contract includes Ericsson’s latest HSPA software, enabling speeds of up to 14.4Mbps in the downlink and up to 1.4Mbps in the uplink, allowing Maxis to enhance its broadband service quality and speed. Implementation has commenced and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Read more

Open Mobile Alliance Releases Globally Interoperable Mobile TV Standard

The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), an international specifications setting body, announces the public availability of its Mobile Broadcast (BCAST) Version 1.0 Candidate Enabler Release. The specification is an open global standard for interactive mobile TV as well as on-demand video services, and is adaptable to any IP-based mobile content delivery technology. Currently, OMA’s BCAST 1.0 can be adapted to broadcast systems like DVB-H as well as cellular systems like 3GPP MBMS, 3GPP2 BCMCS and mobile unicast streaming systems.

Over 35 companies have actively contributed to OMA’s new specification, setting the global market requirements of the end result. “The regulatory, cultural and network environments for TV are very complex around the world,” says Jari Alvinen, Chairman of the Board, OMA. “Release of this specification demonstrates the effectiveness of OMA efforts in the introduction of globally interoperable mobile TV services. The OMA BCAST Enabler opens the door for all potential players in the Mobile TV Value chain to compete and differentiate their products and services.” Read more

WiMAX Forum opens Japan office

The WiMAX Forum, an industry-led non-profit organization comprising more than 460 companies committed to promoting and certifying interoperable WiMAX products, today announced establishment of the WiMAX Forum Japan Office in conjunction with appointment of Japan Director and Vice Directors by the WiMAX Forum.

Japan plays a key role in mobile communication technologies and services and is also expected to lead next-generation mobile broadband services. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has completed the regulatory work for the 2.5 GHz broadband wireless access and also announced the draft license policy on May 15. Read more

Xilinx Announces TD-SCDMA Digital Front-End Reference Design

Xilinx, Inc. in partnership with Multiple Access Communications (MAC) Ltd, announced the immediate availability of a TD-SCDMA Digital Front End (DFE) reference design solution based on the Xilinx System Generator for DSP tool. The new reference design solution significantly reduces the development time required for the complex digital algorithms found in TD-SCDMA DFE radio applications. Consisting of example reference designs, full-speed working demo and complete IP library that include optimised System Generator IP Blocks for digital up conversion (DUC) and digital down conversion (DDC) functions, the TD-SCDMA DFE reference design solution enables users to construct 3GPP-compliant DFE designs for a wide variety of base station configurations.

The TD-SCDMA DFE reference design solution enables developers to reduce design risk and provides a quick time-to-market route from concept-to-production for digital radio applications. The IP library encapsulates the signal processing functions that determine compliance with the 3GPP requirements in such a way that complexity of these functions is hidden from the library user. With this approach, developers can save many man-months of algorithm development and many man-years of hardware development time given the multiple antenna and carrier configurations, ranging from single carrier-single antenna to 6 carriers-8 antennas per sector. Read more

SOMA Networks licenses ArrayComm Mobile WiMAX Antenna Architecture

SOMA Networks, Inc., a global provider of Mobile WiMAX technology, and ArrayComm LLC, the market leader in multi-antenna signal processing for wireless systems, today announced a joint development effort. Under this agreement, SOMA Networks will integrate ArrayComm’s multi-antenna signal processing (MAS) software, including support of MIMO, AAS and combined MIMO/AAS modes, into SOMA’s FlexMAX Mobile WiMAX System. The combination of ArrayComm’s adaptive antenna software with SOMA’s fully converged, all-IP broadband wireless access solution will allow Mobile WiMAX network operators to benefit from the greatest possible cell range and coverage, increased spectral efficiencies and greater network capacity.

MAS technology is one of the key differentiators for Mobile WiMAX systems, enabling operators who deploy equipment based on the 802.16e-2005 standard to serve hard to reach, previously unwired, and underserved broadband markets. Operator economics are extremely challenging in last mile, broadband to the home (BTTH) deployments, especially in emerging and rural markets. Operators are often faced with harsh environmental conditions, as well as a widely dispersed and sparse customer base. MAS provides WiMAX systems with a next generation competitive advantage that removes the barriers to serving the BTTH markets. Read more

Margins to Plummet as Mobile Services Compete with Fixed, Says Analysys

The widespread introduction of low-cost bundled data tariffs and new access networks could lead to dramatic decreases in the price per megabyte of mobile data, and operators might lose control of the services that they carry, according to a forthcoming report, The Future of the Global Wireless Industry: scenarios for 2007-12, published by Analysys.

“There is increasing uncertainty over the future of the wireless industry, and it could evolve in radically different ways,” says co-author Dr Mark Heath. “Organisations need to generate robust plans to steer the industry in their preferred direction, and to ensure success regardless of how the market develops.” Read more

Beceem Mobile WiMAX Chipset demonstration exceeds 33 Mbps aggregate throughput

Beceem Communications announced that the company has successfully performed rate 2 MIMO demonstrations exceeding an aggregate Downlink and Uplink throughput of 33 Mbps. This performance was achieved at the Application Layer using Beceem’s BCS200 wave 2 chipset and the infrastructure of a leading carrier-class OEM.

“Mobile operators are seeing data ARPU contribute to the top-line growth of revenue based on an increasing demand for mobile broadband connectivity, the delivery of audio / video, MMS and gaming,” said David Patterson, vice president of Marketing for Beceem. “The BCS200’s ability to exceed 33 Mbps throughput highlights the advantages of Beceem’s WiMAX solutions to enhance these existing services by bringing a ubiquitous, DSL-like experience to a wide range of products such as WiMAX CPEs, Express cards, USB dongles, laptop PCs, mobile phones and other consumer electronics devices.” Read more

Nortel expands WiMAX partner ecosystem

Nortel has selected ZyXEL Communications, one of the world’s leading device manufacturers, to join the growing ecosystem of companies working with Nortel to deliver broadband wireless communications solutions around the world based on WiMAX technology. Nortel is also working with leading WiMAX chipset manufacturers to include chipsets, which will enable WiMAX capabilities in a variety of devices, in Nortel’s end-to-end WiMAX solutions.

A strong WiMAX ecosystem is important to meeting the mobility demands in the era of Hyperconnectivity where everything that can be connected to the network, will be connected, encompassing person-to-person communication, person-to-machine and machine-to-machine. Read more

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