RF Micro Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq: RFMD), a leading provider of proprietary radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) for wireless communications applications, today announced volume production shipments of its POLARIS™ 2 TOTAL RADIO™ GSM/GPRS/EDGE transceiver solution to Motorola for use in their recently introduced V551 and V547 EDGE (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) handsets. The POLARIS 2 TOTAL RADIO solution is comprised of RFMD's POLARIS 2 EDGE transceiver and RFMD's industry-leading PowerStar® power amplifier module, which comprise a complete RF subsystem for cellular handsets.
Eric Creviston, vice president of wireless products at RF Micro Devices, said, "We are very pleased to extend our relationship with Motorola to include our POLARIS 2 transceiver solution in their new EDGE handsets for North America and Europe. These first volume production shipments represent a significant milestone for RFMD, and we look forward to supporting additional Motorola EDGE handsets as they're introduced. We are taking market share in the greater than $1 billion market for cellular transceivers, and we continue to believe we're on track to ship more than 1.5 million units of our POLARIS 2 transceiver in the December quarter."
Alastair Upton, general manager of digital cellular products of RF Micro Devices, said, "Leading handset manufacturers value the technological innovation of our POLARIS 2 transceiver, which provides EDGE functionality with fewer components and lower current consumption than competing approaches through an innovative architecture called polar modulation. Because we've optimized the transceiver and PA to work together, POLARIS 2 lowers the bill of material cost and provides for longer battery life. Additionally, our POLARIS 2 transceiver has the industry's best receiver sensitivity, which is increasingly important to network operators and handset manufacturers because it reduces the frequency of dropped calls."
RFMD anticipates its POLARIS 2 transceiver solutions will support additional EDGE handsets in the December quarter. RFMD's POLARIS transceivers more than double the Company's cellular content opportunity per handset and represent a major incremental revenue opportunity for the Company.
RF Micro Devices anticipates the handset market is on track to ship more than 40 million EDGE-capable handsets in calendar year 2004 and more than 140 million EDGE-capable handsets in calendar year 2005. At the carrier level, more than 100 wireless carriers are committed to offer EDGE networks, and already more than 30 carriers have launched EDGE services. According to a recent study by industry research firm InStat/MDR, EDGE-enabled phones are expected to account for nearly a quarter of GSM handsets produced worldwide by the end of 2005 and close to 50 percent by 2007.
RFMD is the leading supplier of EDGE PAs and the leading supplier of merchant market EDGE transceivers.