Just when the cellular communication proliferated around the globe, people have dreamed for the World phone that travelers could use the same phone wherever you go around the world. 

The fragmentation of technology (3GPP versus 3GPP2, or EDGE/UMTS versus CDMA) has made the goal of World phone elusive.  Adding salt to the wound, the un-harmonized frequency bands around the different countries has made the World phone dream from elusive to illusive.

Until recently, we have reason to believe that 3GPP and 3GPP2 fragmentation has finally converged to LTE in either TD (Time-Division) or FD (Frequency-Division) versions!  LTE will be the choice for most, if not for all, corners of the World.   There is definitely hope that the holy grail for the World Phone is becoming possible. 

I have posted more in-depth details on the LTE UE categories and the breed of BB (Base Band) chipset battle field on my previous communications:

http://lteuniversity.com/get_trained/expert_opinion1/b/twong/archive/2013/01/08/dynamic-of-the-lte-ue-user-equipments-base-band-bb-modem-market-from-the-list-of-tender-awardees-of-the-world-s-largest-wireless-operator-china-mobile.aspx

http://lteuniversity.com/get_trained/expert_opinion1/b/twong/archive/2012/05/30/landscape-of-the-lte-base-band-chip-set-and-cat-5-ue-commercial-availability.aspx

Per the LTE specification, all LTE UE will support FDD, TDD, H-FDD in all of the 6 possible bandwidths (1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 all in MHz) of deployment, the remaining issue is the World phone has to work across multiple frequency bands.  Table 1 summarizes a partial list of frequency bands of interest.  They are, or will be, used for LTE deployment among the major geographical regions and/or major operators.  I welcome your comment if my information is outdated and/or inaccurate.   

 

Table 1. Global Frequency Band for 4G / LTE Deployment

Now, we know the frequency bands being used in the different continents.  It is indeed a challenge to design a World phone with the RFFE (Radio Frequency Front End including the antenna, tuner, PA etc.) to work across all the frequency bands.  It requires having a wide-band receiver, or a concatenation of multiple narrow band receivers to cover the “wide band”.  Achieving a wide-band receiver which work across multiple bands has proven to be more difficult than it sounds.  Thus, it is not pragmatic to design a RFFE to work across all bands.

Paradoxically, it does not require having a “wide-band” RFFE to cover all bands to make it the World phone!  Will the device also require to be multi-modes (LTE, and other air interface otherwise) to become the perfect companion of the world traveler?   Which RFFE supplier(s) will have the best solution to win the socket(s)?  Table 2 summarizes a partial list of the major players in the transceiver battle field in alphabetical order.  What are the SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) among the players?  Whoever wins the transceiver battle field will likely capitalize substantial business opportunity both for the WORLD phone and the LOCAL phone.

 

Table 2.  A Partial List of the Major Suppliers for UE Transceiver and PA Subsystems

For the trained eyes, we could strategically pick a subset of all the frequency bands to make the UE a World phone depending on the roaming agreement.  Many of the smart phones OEMs and wireless operators are now charting the product and requirement roadmaps to realize this elusive goal for the “flagship” device as the perfect companion of the hi-end (hi-value) business travelers.

Let see if you can identify the least number of frequency bands and/or modes in order to make the UE a WORLD PHONE?  This is a mind game balancing the vitality, performance, industrial design, and cost.  I welcome your comment to exchange further perspectives…