LG Electronics has developed the first handset modem chip based on LTE standards - which can theoretically support wireless download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 50Mbps. LG demonstrated the chip today at its Mobile Communication Technology Research Lab in Anyang, Korea, achieving wireless download speeds of 60 Mbps and upload speeds of 20 Mbps.

The fastest phones currently on the market use HSDPA technology and download at a maximum speed of 7.6 Mbps.

For the past three years, LG have been pursuing 3GPP LTE standardization, working to develop and test commercially viable LTE technology with around 250 staff.

“Now that LG has developed and tested the first 4G handset modem, a commercially viable LTE handset is on the horizon,” said Dr. Woo Hyun Paik, CTO of LG Electronics. “This latest breakthrough gives us a strong technology advantage that we will use to bolster our industry leadership.”

According to market research company Strategy Analytics, the global LTE handset market will double from 70 million sales units in 2012 to 150 million sales units by 2013.

Dr. Paik added, "Our successful development of this LTE handset modem signals the start of the 4G mobile communications market. LG will continue to advance this technology and develop further technologies to maintain global leadership.”

The first LTE mobile phones will likely reach the market in 2010.

Source:cellular-news