US : Recent technology developments could lead to massive global penetration of 3G mobile phones over the next decade, said Rich Templeton, president and CEO of Texas Instruments Incorporated.

"It is entirely possible that by 2015, more than 1 billion people will be using 3G mobile phones or even more advanced handsets," Templeton said at a press event concurrent with the 3GSM World Congress. "We see a world where 3G wireless eventually will be available everywhere, to everyone -- from the world's major financial centers to the farthest reaches of developing nations."

Templeton noted that rural residents in developing countries already use text messaging on mobile phones for convenience and commerce. "Adding more advanced services can make an even bigger difference. For instance, higher- resolution camera phones and multimedia messaging have great potential for medical applications -- linking villages with urban doctors who can actually see what the problem is from a remote location," he said. "I think it's a simple fact that the future of information technology in the developing world can be held in your hand -- it's the mobile phone."

Templeton cautioned, however, that, "We must be realistic because there is a lot of hard work ahead and difficult obstacles to overcome in this next wireless generation -- from spectrum regulation to handset pricing and power efficiency."

Achieving 3G's full potential will require intense collaboration among handset manufacturers, network operators, regulators and wireless applications developers. "It also will require foundational technology that supports robust, yet affordable 3G handsets and infrastructure," he said.

TI is taking a comprehensive approach to the complex and wide-ranging technology requirements of 3G handsets and networks. The company is building on 15 years of experience in the wireless industry as well as TI's broad consumer electronics expertise, he said.

For handsets, Templeton cited TI's new family of OMAP-Vox(TM) wireless solutions. The new solutions, which were announced earlier in the day, combine mobile-phone modems and multimedia applications processing in a single product. This cost-effective approach will reduce development time and foster the spread of 3G mobile phones to the global masses, he said.

For network infrastructure, he highlighted TI's new universal baseband 1 GHz DSP for wireless base stations. This single-chip breakthrough allows operators to use one chip to support multiple 3G standards. "We're working with 9 of the top 10 base station manufacturers, and our new baseband DSP will help operators be far more efficient and productive with their capital deployments," he said.

"In total, TI serves more than 50 percent of the UMTS marketplace," he said. UMTS stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, a 3G wireless communications standard that builds on the globally predominant GSM standard and incorporates the GSM, GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA wireless standards.

Templeton noted that several other recent TI innovations will support the wireless industry's growth and global penetration. For example, TI is sampling a single-chip solution for mobile phones that will accelerate wireless penetration by enabling low-cost mobile phones in places such as China, India and Latin America. "Hundreds of millions of people could experience telecommunications for the first time because of this single-chip breakthrough," Templeton said.

He also highlighted TI's single-chip solution for live digital broadcast TV on mobile phones. Also, the company's OMAP 2 processors will enable mobile phones with multi-megapixel cameras, digital video recorders, CD-quality audio, 3D multiplayer gaming and more.

"TI's objective is to help operators and manufacturers put real power into the hands of their customers -- billions of customers worldwide," Templeton said. "I have no doubt that we will see things result from this that none of us can imagine today. The possibilities are endless."

Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers' real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company's businesses include Sensors & Controls and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.