LG India is confident of commercially launching LTE hand-held devices in the first quarter of 2011 to take first-mover advantage in the country. The company has already started testing of the devices built on LTE chipsets from Qualcomm.

We have started testing of devices and will commercially launch LTE devices in the first quarter of 2011. Before that we are planning to start trials with some of the players in India,” said Vishal Chopra, business head, mobile communications, LG Electronics India, in an interaction. Chopra mentioned that these will be hand-held devices and of the size equivalent to the prevailing smartphone devices from LG. The company is yet to decide on the price of LTE hand-held devices. It will be very premature to comment on the pricing. We are in the testing phase of the devices. We will be able to decide the prices only after the completion of all test and trials. It will also depend on the demand of such devices,” said Chopra.

LG has developed these devices on LTE chipsets from Qualcomm. This move by LG will bring winners of BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) spectrum close to choosing TD LTE technology for their network. Earlier Wi-Max Forum had rubbished the claims made by LTE players of launching commercial products in early 2011. LG has expressed that its is bullish on mobile product segment and the launch of LTE devices can be seen as the company’s strategy to capture large market share in wireless segment.

The company has also announced that it plans to increase its revenue by 80 % from the current level and cross the revenue figure of Rs 2500 crore by the end of 2011 from its mobile business unit. LG will introduce 55 new devices in the near future to strengthen its mobile phone business, out of which 40 % hand-held devices will fall into smartphone category.