Intel Updates 5G, LTE Roadmaps

　　Intel released a few bullet points from the roadmap for its cellular baseband chips. Its plans for 5G and advanced LTE chips aim to close the gap with its rival Qualcomm.

　　Specifically, Intel said that its customers will ship systems in 2018 with an upgraded XMM 7650 baseband that supports CDMA and Gbits/s downlinks. An XMM 7660 will ship in products in mid-2019 supporting 3GPP Release 14 with 4x4 MIMO and data rates up to 1.6 Gbits/s.

　　In 5G, Intel completed a 28-GHz call using a dedicated silicon implementation of the Verizon 5GTF spec. It plans to have XMM 8060 chips in customer systems shipping in mid-2019 that support the still-emerging 3GPP New Radio standard, the first in a series of 5G XMM 8000 products.

　　The 8060 will support both non-standalone and standalone modes as well as 2/3G and LTE. Using different RF front-end chips, it will support both millimeter-wave frequencies and bands below 6 GHz.

　　Intel declined to provide data rates for the 5G chips or power consumption levels for any of the basebands. Overall, Intel aims to be a top supplier for cellular networks from RF front ends to back-end host processors.

　　“We strongly believe our [baseband] capability will be industry-leading,” said Chenwei Yan, general manager of Intel’s connected products group.

　　The updated Intel roadmap potentially matches but doesn’t exceed what is expected from Qualcomm, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst of market watcher Tirias Research.

　　“Qualcomm will probably still be first with a modem for tests and first devices, but the devil is in the details. In the past, Intel hasn’t been able to match the frequency band combinations [that] Qualcomm supported … details on support for licensed and unlicensed bands and the extent of carrier aggregation is part of the fine print that is hard to get out of everyone.”

　　Apple started using Intel LTE basebands in as many as half of its iPhones last year following patent disputes with Qualcomm. It is said to be considering shifting entirely to Intel next year.

　　Both Intel and Qualcomm have previously declared their intentions to have 5G basebands supporting sub-6 GHz and mmwave frequencies previously. The current announcement marks a slightly more detailed reveal of Intel’s plans.

　　The 3GPP 5G radio standard, led by a Qualcomm engineer, is not expected to be finished until the end of the year.

　　The race is on to get 5G chips to carriers in time for trails next year and services in 2019. However, one market watcher said in Julythat base station sales are in decline following the LTE buildout and are not expected to return to growth until 2021.

　　“One of the first 5G apps is wireless last-mile service, so millimeter-wave support will be critical,” said Alex Quach, general manager of Intel’s 5G strategy group.

　　“Most 3/4G nets were built for coverage from Day 1, but in 5G, we see it evolving differently with the exception of China, which is building a coverage network from Day 1. Other geographies will start with mmwave services to help relieve capacity crunches in metro areas with 5G hot zones … while in parallel, a sub-6-GHz network is built up for coverage.”

　　Even the expected 3- to 4-GHz band 5G nets may come on relatively slowly as carriers try to define new high-bandwidth or lower-latency services that they can sell to recoup costs of the buildouts, said Quach. They will seek new kinds of service-level agreements and business-to-business models not previously available with LTE.

　　Although Korean carriers have plans for 5G-like services at the Winter Olympics in February, they will not be based on the 3GPP radio standard, which won’t be final until the end of this year. In addition, regulators in Korea have not yet identified and auctioned off spectrum for 5G, he said.

　　“There’s a very, very strong interest in accelerating the time to get to define and deploy the 5G New Radio … we see relatively few deployments of non-3GPP standards other than for trial purposes.”