Samsung Electronics Develops First Commercial LTE Modem for Mobile Phones

­Samsung says that it has developed the first LTE modem that complies with the latest standards of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which were released in March 2009. Utilizing Release 8 of the 3GPP, this LTE modem is a significant upgrade from the previous standard that was released in December 2008.

The modem, branded the Kalmia, supports download speed up to 100Mbps and upload speed of 50Mbps within the 20MHz frequency bandwidth.

Samsung also announced it has successfully developed a 3G baseband modem based on the Release 7 standard with an HSPA Evolution platform. This modem, branded the Broom, allows download speeds of up to 28Mbps and upload speeds of 11.5 Mbps. This makes the Release 7 more than twice as fast as the Release 6 HSPA Service, which had a maximum download speed of 14.4Mbps.

Because the LTE and all other HSPA evolution models share the same platform, the new LTE modem is fully compatible with earlier standards. Through this technology, a mobile communications service provider can upgrade to HSPA service or evolve into a LTE network simultaneously in order to convert their existing networks to broadband.

In the future, this flexibility will be crucial as wireless mobile service providers will require compatibility with pre-existing systems, in order to offer LTE in urban areas while still supporting 3G in suburban or rural areas. The modem offers a multi-mode, which is a major requirement for LTE developers who are calling for inter-operability within pre-existing 3G networks.

"Our latest LTE standard chip-set will help realize the world's first commercial LTE device," said JongKyun Shin, Executive Vice President and head of Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics. "Currently, Samsung is partnering with LTE developers preparing for a LTE service launch in 2010 and will unveil a variety of LTE devices of different types and with diverse features and options, including memory cards, handheld devices and MID."

Posted to the site on 2nd September 2009