Kyocera, Marvell team on Wi-Fi/CDMA platform

Spencer Chin

January 31, 2006

Spencer Chin

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Kyocera Wireless Corp. has signed a strategic alliance with Marvell to develop a dual-mode Wi-Fi/CDMA handset platform.

Kyocera Wireless (San Diego), will leverage the wireless LAN technology of Marvell (Santa Clara, Calif.), which supplies storage, communications, and consumer silicon solutions. By doing so, Kyocera hopes to capture the market for WLAN-enabled cellular handsets, projected by some analysts to reach 125 million by 2008—about 15 percent of the global market for mobile phones.

"The footprint and adoption of WLAN networks is increasing exponentially and we have carrier customers who are viewing this technology as a complement to their capacity-constrained cellular networks," said Tom Zeran, vice president of product management at Kyocera Wireless Corp, in a statement. "Adding the feature capabilities of high-speed WLAN while reducing demand on precious spectrum is certainly an attractive proposition.”

Wireless LANs and traditional mobile wireless networks are converging. In December, Qualcomm Inc. said it would the Wi-Fi Alliance, a move considered to ensure that the company’s 3G cellular data and voice chipsets are compatible with wireless networking technology.