Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf during the third quarter earnings explained how the chip major will excel in the 5G business.
5G technology will become a worldwide reality in 2020 with US telecom operators AT&T and Verizon planning trials in 2017. IoT, which will see wider adoption among enterprises, will be running on the 5G platform.
Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf believes that the chipset maker’s existing presence in the modem and wireless chips will assist the US technology company to derive business gains in the forthcoming 5G space. Precisely, Qualcomm believes that the company’s Snapdragon X16 modem will pave the way to 5G.
“The technology roadmap required for 5G will drive significant advancements in modem and front-end features, the technologies in which Qualcomm excels,” said Steve Mollenkopf.
Many of the technologies enabling gigabit LTE will be common to 5G, use of more antennas, use of multiple types of spectrum simultaneously, more sophisticated signal processing etc. Qualcomm will gain from the fact that many of these features are already being trialed or commercially deployed in phones using Snapdragon 820 processor X12 LTE.
Qualcomm will also gain from 802.11ad technology operating at 60 gigahertz to build expertise in the high-band known as millimeter wave to be deployed broadly in 5G.
Qualcomm is also designing a new OFDM based 5G air interface that will enhance mobile broadband services and enable connectivity and management for IoT and new types of mission critical services. Its 5G design will cover from low bands to low 1-gigahertz to mid bands from 1-gigahertz to 6-gigahertz to millimeter wave.
Qualcomm’s rival Intel is also betting big on IoT business. But Internet of Things (IoT) business of Intel rose 2 percent to $572 million in Q2 2016. “We saw growth in the industrial and video verticals, offset by an inventory burn after a very strong first quarter. We continue to see tremendous potential in this business,” said Intel CEO Brian M Krzanich.
Intel claims that it gained share in Network Infrastructure throughout the entire segment, as Intel architecture becomes the solution of choice for the transformation of the network to SDN, NFV, and 5G.
IDC in a recently latest market report said U.S. enterprises will be making investment of more than $232 billion in IoT hardware, software, services, and connectivity in 2016. IDC also expects U.S. IoT revenues will achieve compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.1 percent over the 2015-2019 forecast period, reaching more than $357 billion in 2019.
Qualcomm CEO appreciated the recent spectrum regulatory decisions and movement in the U.S. and Europe and with progress on the spectrum regulatory front in China, Japan and Korea. “These are good indications that the world is preparing for 5G,” Steve Mollenkopf said.
Qualcomm recently announced 5G prototype system and trial platform operating in spectrum band below 6-gigahertz and showcased multiple gigabit throughput at low latency.
The chipset major demonstrated a prototype system at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai in association with China Mobile.
Baburajan K
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