Skip to main content

Ultra Mobile Broadband is Dead on Arrival

The prospects for even moderate adoption of the Qualcomm 4G technology called UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband) are dim, according to a new market study from ABI Research.

But Qualcomm's intellectual property portfolio is still promising in key enabling technologies for 4G, and the company faces no real threat to its long-term future -- even without successful UMB network rollouts. Again, according to ABI's recent assessment.

The technology is expected to be commercially available by mid-2009, but senior analyst Nadine Manjaro, says "No operator has yet announced plans to trial or deploy UMB. Several of the major CDMA operators in the two primary markets are migrating to other technologies. Vendors cannot move forward with development unless their customers commit to trial this technology."

WiMAX and LTE have ecosystems in place that offer support. LTE, which is expected to be available around 2010, already has operator commitment from Vodafone and Verizon. WiMAX has implemented many trials, and has over fifty commercial deployments underway.

ABI Research believes Qualcomm's biggest potential market for UMB is in Asia, but many operators there are considering WiMAX or are still focused on 3G. Regardless, ABI also believes that UMB is unlikely to make much progress or significant revenue there.

However Qualcomm has diversified its product portfolio by acquiring companies with OFDMA and MIMO patents (Flarion, for example) and has also developed chipsets for W-CDMA/HSPA technology. Therefore, ABI believes that it will hopfully still be a strong industry player without UMB.

"While Qualcomm has made many significant contributions to mobile communications," concludes Manjaro, "in this case we just have to be realistic. Vendors need to step up and say that they aren't going to invest any more resources in developing this technology, since there is virtually no demand for it."

ABI Research's new report provides a detailed analysis of the state of CDMA and the potential opportunities for UMB. It analyzes why Qualcomm has not been able to gain traction for UMB, and discusses Qualcomm's strategy to diversity its product portfolio and attempt to guarantee its future opportunities outside of UMB.

Popular posts from this blog

How WLAN Transforms Industrial Automation

The industrial sector is on the eve of a wireless transformation, driven by an urgent demand for greater network capacity, reliability, and deterministic performance. Historically, manufacturers and mission-critical operations have relied on wired networks — favoring their predictability — because spectrum congestion in legacy 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands limited confidence in wireless for operational technology (OT) environments. However, with the introduction and rapid adoption of the 6GHz spectrum, compounded by significant advances in Wi-Fi standards, industrial facilities are now poised to embrace wireless LANs as the backbone for automation and digital innovation. Industrial WLAN Market Development Recent research from ABI Research forecasts that over 70 percent of industrial-grade wireless LAN access points (WLAN APs) shipped in 2030 will support the 6GHz band. This is a leap from 2 percent in 2023, highlighting a rapid and profound technological shift. The market for ruggedized indust...