By Claus Hetting, Wi-Fi NOW CEO & Chairman
Mobile World Congress is behind us – thankfully – for another year, and as expected there was not much Wi-Fi news to write home about from the mobile industry event. But there we a couple of eye-opening announcements from Korea Telecom (KT), Intel, and Qualcomm, respectively.
KT inks deal with Intel towards becoming world’s first Wi-Fi 7 operator
Who will become the first operator in the world to deploy Wi-Fi 7? Chances have always been that it would be either SKT or KT – both of Korea – since the two have been systematically first with deployment of new Wi-Fi standards in the past. Now it looks like KT is on track to clinch the ‘world’s first’ designation in part through a new partnership with Intel.
Korea Herald reports that KT and Intel will “work together to develop and promote” Wi-Fi 7 services. KT says it plans to develop its own Wi-Fi access points (and presumably home gateways, too) while Intel will supply the device-side Wi-Fi 7 technology. “The two companies will run interoperability tests and pursue technology innovation,” Korea Herald reports.
Intel has not yet released Wi-Fi 7 chipsets for devices – predominantly laptops and desktop PCs – but it largely expected to do so later this year. Intel is by far the world’s leading provider of Wi-Fi connectivity technology for PC platforms. Intel has already conducted Wi-Fi 7 interoperability testing and demonstrations together with Broadcom – read more here.
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Qualcomm claims 175 Wi-Fi 7 design wins
Qualcomm is not pulling any punches in its fight to become the world’s leading provider of Wi-Fi 7 chipsets – and right now it does look like a no contest situation. Qualcomm now claims 175 design wins for new Wi-Fi 7-capable access points and end-user devices. The company also says it has shipped more than 6.5 billion Wi-Fi products (of all denominations) since 2015.
The company’s three Wi-Fi 7 platforms are: The FastConnect 7800 (for smartphones and laptops), the ‘Networking Pro Series’ (mostly for enterprise-grade APs), and the ‘Immersive Home Platform’ (mostly for smart home gateways and mesh). Design wins include plenty of new smartphones from Motorola, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and more as well as routers from TP-Link, Arris, ADB, and others. Obviously that doesn’t add up to 175 but it is reasonable to imagine that there are plenty in the pipeline (including multiple models for many of the new and future releases). Release of Wi-Fi 7 devices on both the smartphone and router side are well underway in China in particular.
/Claus.
