Debuting what it has dubbed a "phone on a chip" solution for next-generation wireless capabilities, Broadcom Corp. http://www.broadcom.com today announced a new single-chip high-speed packet access (HSPA) processor that the company claims integrates all of the key 3G cellular and mobile technologies on an extremely low power, single 65-nm CMOS die.

The relatively low price point of the device is aimed at bringing multi-media capable feature phones "to the masses," Yossi Cohen, senior vice president of Broadcom's mobile platforms group, said this morning in a webcast for investors and journalists. Cohen said that the BCM21551's debut comes more than year before similar products that are on the way from rival wireless communications chip developers.

According to Broadcom, the BCM21551 3G phone on a chip solution combines a high-speed HSUPA 3G baseband, a multi-band radio frequency (RF) transceiver, Bluetooth 2.1 with enhanced data rate technology, and an FM radio receiver and an FM radio transmitter for car stereo music playback. The device also features advanced multimedia processing, up to five megapixel camera support, and 30 frame per second video, as well as support for the HSUPA, HSDPA, WCDMA and EDGE cellular protocols. It can be paired with other Broadcom devices, such as Wi-Fi and GPS, PMU, or the new VideoCore III mobile multimedia processor.

"Never before has anyone integrated as many radio devices on a single chip," Broadcom claimed in a statement today.The device is targeted at both "mass market" high volume 3G "feature phones" as well as smartphones running an open OS.

The BCM21551 3G baseband processor is available now to early access customers and is priced at $23.00 in large quantities.

This is by no means Broadcom's first foray into 3G technologies.  Earlier this month, the company announced that electronics giant Samsung Electronics http://www.samsung.com has included Broadcom's 3G cellular solutions http://www.edn.com/article/CA6488108.html for a new series of Samsung mobile handsets that are now available.

Broadcom has indeed proven itself to be a powerful player in the cell phone market, particularly in comparison with its closest rival Qualcomm Inc. http://www.qualcomm.com  In recent months, Broadcom has proven to be the victor several times http://www.edn.com/article/CA6468789.html over in ongoing patent litigation with Qualcomm: in August, a judge ordered Qualcomm to pay double damages of $39.3 million for the past infringement of three patents that had been found to belong to Broadcom.

Additionally, the International Trade Commission http://www.itc.gov (ITC) is set to enact an widely impacting ban on the importation of a number of 3G cellular baseband Qualcomm chips that have also been found to infringe a Broadcom patent. Meanwhile, patent infringement claims that Qualcomm has brought against Broadcom have been dismissed by the courts http://www.edn.com/article/CA6466544.html.