Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015) is getting ready to see the live action from chip majors such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, Intel, MediaTek, Altair Semiconductor, etc.

Catch the live action at Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015)

The following are the latest announcements from chip makers.

Qualcomm

Qualcomm Technologies will showcase its capabilities related to unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U). It has also completed over-the-air testing to prove co-existence between multiple LTE-U and Wi-Fi access points in the unlicensed spectrum.

Qualcomm is announcing the first integration of LTE-U into a small cell SoC to expand capacity and seamlessly extend LTE networks. The FSM99xx, a family of small cell SoCs, will add LTE-U and be available in Q2 2015. The FSM99xx solutions integrate Qualcomm Technologies’ 3G and 4G and support its Qualcomm VIVE 802.11ac/n Wi-Fi to enable full-featured small cells that provide superior performance with better power efficiency.

Altair Semiconductor

Altair Semiconductor announced the sampling of its FourGee-1160 and FourGee-1150 Category-1 and Category-0 chipsets targeting the IoT applications market.

The company expects that this product will catalyze billions of dollars in spending by the M2M and IoT industry. CAT-1 and CAT-0 are lower speed and power versions of the LTE standard which dramatically extend the addressable market for carriers and chip makers alike. They introduce new IoT targeted features, extend battery operation and lower the cost of adding LTE connectivity.

Altair has shipped millions of chipsets to date, deployed commercially on carrier networks such as Verizon Wireless, Softbank, China Mobile and Megafone.

Broadcom

Broadcom said KT Corporation has deployed Broadcom’s small cell system-on-chip (SoC) devices to enhance its 4G LTE wireless broadband services. KT completed deployment and verification of its Broadcom-enabled small cells for commercial outdoor environments this quarter and plans to expand services to indoor residential locations in Q2 2015.

ABI Research says the small cell equipment market to reach $5 billion by 2018 as carriers and operators increasingly leverage small cells to cost-effectively support growth in cellular data traffic.

Broadcom also announced system-on-a-chip (SoC) for virtual customer premise equipment (vCPE) market – promising flexibility to add new services in a dynamic, multi-vendor environment.

Broadcom said SK Telecom has selected Broadcom’s small cell system-on-chip (SoC) devices with carrier aggregation technology to enhance its 4G LTE services.

By integrating Broadcom’s BCM61765 SoCs, SK Telecom will be the first to deploy LTE small cells capable of aggregating two non-contiguous bands, thus increasing bandwidth and data throughout its LTE network.

Broadcom also introduced two new system-on-chip (SoC) devices to provide mobile access carriers with capacity and spectral efficiency to boost existing microwave backhaul infrastructure. The new SoCs are the first to deliver 5 gigabit per second (Gbps) speeds and deliver a 4X increase in spectral efficiency of 48 bps/Hz.

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