Qualcomm kills Ultra-Mobile Broadband

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 14 Nov 2008 at 11:05

Qualcomm has announced it has discontinued research of its Ultra-Mobile Broadband technology, a potential sucessor to 3G.

The wireless-chip maker made the announcement at an analysts' meeting, before throwing its support behind the rival Long Term Evolution technology, already backed by the majority of its customers, including Verizon Wireless.

Qualcomm says the decision is an attempt to cut costs in the face of slowing consumer demand for mobile phones. However, the company says the are no plans to undertake "a large lay off across the company".

UMB was one of a trio of technologies that first emerged as a viable successor to the current 3G standard. The battle is now between Intel-favoured WiMax, and LTE, led by Ericsson.

Technologies such as WiMax and LTE are planned to support up to 100 Mb/sec connections and could see widespread use by 2010.