Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 16, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The Dutch Philips subsidiary NXP Semiconductors has unveiled what the company says is the world’s fastest mobile broadband modem. The “Nexperia Cellular System Solution PNX6910” supports download rates of up to 150 megabits per second (Mbps). This will make it suitable for use in the next generation of mobile networks, which operate with LTE (Long Term Evolution), the successor technology to UMTS. However, the multimode modem also supports all current networks in the GSM-UMTS family. The device, which is expected to become available next year, thus promises a simple transition between technologies.
With the PNX9610, an entire HD film can be downloaded in less than seven minutes. This does, however, require an LTE network, which could theoretically even allow downloads at more than 300 Mbps. “We looked at what is actually possible with two receive antennas and one transmit antenna,” Carsten Schimanke, Marketing Manager at NXP, told the pressetext.de news service. The result is the 150 Mbps enabled by the PNX6910. Half of the theoretical maximum should be entirely sufficient in practice, Schimanke says, pointing both to restrictions in the use of MIMO multiple-antenna technology and to limitations imposed by network backbones. At CeBIT 2008, for example, T-Mobile spoke of LTE network projects that would allow a maximum of 170 Mbps.
LTE is unlikely to be implemented in earnest before 2009, but the NXP modem also supports the GSM-UMTS chain of LTE precursor technologies, including the current leading technology HSPA. It is currently generally used with HSDPA downlink rates of 3.6 Mbps or 7.2 Mbps—the latter, incidentally, is just under half of the theoretical maximum. “3GPP Release 7 is also supported,” Schimanke emphasizes. This refers to an intermediate technological step that permits downloads at up to 42 Mbps. Ericsson has announced its introduction as “HSPA Evolution” for later this year. The PNX6910 therefore offers users the prospect of a simple transition between different network technologies once they achieve genuine practical adoption.
Fast downloads and an uplink rate of up to 50 Mbps are likewise intended to benefit users of the next generation of mobile devices, from mobile phones and camcorders to Internet tablets and laptops. The PNX6910 is expected to be available from the second quarter of 2009, initially probably for extensive technology testing by companies.
