U
Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB)
The brand name for the project within 3GPP2 to improve the CDMA2000 mobile phone standard for next-generation applications and requirements. The system is based upon Internet (TCP/IP) networking technologies running over a next-generation radio system, with peak rates of up to 280 Mbit/s. Its designers intended for the system to be more efficient and capable of providing more services than the technologies it replaces. Commercialization is unlikely as Qualcomm, its main developer, 3GPP2, and major CDMA carriers, are concentrating on LTE instead. To provide compatibility with the systems it replaces, UMB supports handoffs with other technologies, including existing CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO systems. However, 3GPP2 added this functionality to LTE, allowing LTE to become the single upgrade path for all wireless networks. According to the technology market research firm ABI Research, Ultra-Mobile Broadband might be “dead on arrival.” No carrier has announced plans to adopt UMB, and most CDMA carriers in Australia, USA, China, Japan, and Korea have already announced plans to adopt HSPA or LTE.