Qualcomm readies the first 4G chips to use the Wi-Fi airwaves

At Mobile World Congress, Qualcomm will unveil its first 4G silicon designed to tap the 5 GHz unlicensed airwaves used by Wi-Fi. The technology is called LTE-Unlicensed, and it’s becoming a bit of a sore point with the Wi-Fi industry, which feels the mobile carriers are encroaching on its turf. But Qualcomm and other mobile network vendors look to making the event in Barcelona a big showcase for the technology. Specifically Qualcomm is announcing a new radio transceiver for mobile devices that can pick an LTE signal out of the 5 GHz band. It’s the only upgrade that current mobile devices sold in the US need to access an LTE-U network (Europe and parts of Asia have further requirements).

Qualcomm has also developed a new baseband chip for small cells – miniature base stations used indoors or in high-traffic areas – that can cobble together LTE transmissions in both the unlicensed and licensed bands, said Mazen Chmaytelli, senior director of business development at Qualcomm. The reason carriers like Verizon and T-Mobile are interested in LTE-U -- and its more sophisticated cousin LTE-License Assisted Access -- is because it will let them add more capacity to their networks in without buying new airwaves.