Sequans supplies 4G chips, for both WiMax and LTE. You have been quoted as describing WiMAX as ‘training wheels' for LTE. How does the company address the two markets?
We are an established leader in WiMAX and we believe that WiMAX will continue to grow at full speed for at least the next two or three years, until LTE reaches maturity. We are committed to the WiMAX market and will continue to invest in more and more innovation, especially for mobile devices.
On the LTE front, our first challenge was to establish Sequans' credibility as a player in this market - and this we have done by delivering our first TD-LTE chip and USB dongle to China Mobile in April. The dongle performed successfully for China Mobile at the World Expo in Shanghai, May 1, delivering very high throughput and high definition video. Moving forward, we will be expanding our LTE roadmap to prepare for future trials and commercial launches. We will be focusing on key market opportunities where we can leverage our product differentiation in order to successfully compete in the big TD-LTE ecosystem. Our main goal is to become a key 4G chip leader and we are well on our way.
What are the barriers to WiMAX and LTE growth and adoption and how is Sequans addressing these?
4G technology (WiMAX or LTE) is a real solution to a real problem. The extremely rapid adoption of smartphone devices (such as iPhone) and the proliferation of applications and massive usage, are driving an exponential growth in mobile broadband data that 3G networks cannot handle because 3G networks were not designed for it. 4G is the answer, and users will be eager to use it as it becomes available. So the challenge of 4G is to deliver on the promise of 4G in terms of performance. Sequans is contributing by delivering silicon with the most advanced algorithms, enabling deep in-building coverage and very low power consumption, small footprint and low bill of materials (BOM) and cost, enabling 4G to be easily and widely integrated in consumer devices.
As the only company to offer certified products for both fixed and mobile WiMAX, what advantages does this offer your customers?
This allows our customers to leverage their investment in fixed WiMAX to move quickly to Mobile WiMAX. Note that we are also the only company offering silicon for both terminal and base stations. This allows our customers to benefit from our end-to-end experience and create system differentiation.
Your latest design win, the HTC Evo 4G smartphone, features the SQN1210. What capabilities does this Mobile WiMAX chipset bring to this consumer handset?
Adding WiMAX to a sophisticated multi-mode smartphone like the Evo came with many challenges. We needed to provide superior performance in terms of throughput and coverage. We also needed to keep the incremental power consumption very low so as not to impact the battery life and keep the footprint very small so as not to impact the size of the device. Then we needed to solve all the co-existence issues between the various radio technologies integrated into the device - WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth - and specifically WiMAX when the device is operating in portable router mode. Finally, we needed to handle 3G/4G switch over smoothly. We needed to provide all this while keeping the incremental cost under control. This is what the SQN1210 is able to deliver. It is the industry's most highly integrated and advanced WiMAX semiconductor solution.
What is your comment on speculation that Clearwire, the wireless network operator running the Evo, could forsake WiMAX for LTE?
Any operator running 4G has to keep his options open for future evolution. It is about enabling the best user experience and LTE will surely be part of that. However, WiMAX is here today and it is working very well. Operators who want to deliver 4G service today have no other choice but WiMAX and Clearwire is a leader here. I believe WiMAX will be around much longer than what some speculate. The evolution to LTE makes sense in the future, but there are many unknowns that will affect the timing of this development, for example, the development of WiMAX2. LTE will not necessarily replace WiMAX. It is quite possible that WiMAX and LTE networks will exist side by side. For operators who invested in WiMAX and have built sizeable subscriber bases, there is no compelling reason to abandon WiMAX for LTE.
Sequans is based in Paris. Yet most of your customers (Huawei, ZTE, ZyXEL, Quanta, HTC, China Mobile and ASUS, etc.) and design-wins are in Asia. Why does your WiMAX technology appeal more in this region?
Sequans' headquarters is in Paris but our company is global with 50% of our team outside Paris. Regarding the customer base - yes it is very concentrated in Asia, but this is because most manufacturers, including leaders Huawei and ZTE, are based in Asia.
Can you tell us in what applications your chips are used in Europe? Is there an east-west divide in your customer base?
We have a few customers in Europe (specifically France, Israel and Russia), but the end customers are all over the world where WiMAX is deployed, including US, Japan, India, Russia. Except for Russia, where Scartel operates its Yota WiMAX network, there has not been very much WiMAX deployment in Europe.
