Qualcomm Leads LTE Charge

The following commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet's guest contributor program, which is separate from the company's news coverage.

NEW YORK (Trefis) -- Ever since Apple (AAPL) announced that its latest iPad will ship in a LTE variant, Qualcomm (QCOM) shares have risen to new highs.

With Apple having officially standardized its baseband chips on Qualcomm's since the launch of the iPhone 4S, it is widely believed that the iPad will also sport Qualcomm's LTE chipset. This is adding more fuel to the bullish outlook supporting the stock since the start of the year.

Less than three months into 2012, Qualcomm's stock has already climbed by nearly 20% and is inching closer to our $67.15 price estimate now.

The iPad in itself may not be a very big value-add to the company since the popular tablet comes in two variants, the WiFi-only and the WiFi+4G, and it is only the later that may sport Qualcomm's LTE chipset. However we believe that the year ahead promises to be exciting for Qualcomm as it readies to lead the LTE smartphone revolution with its recently launched integrated chipsets. See our complete analysis of Qualcomm here. Until now, the LTE adoption rate in the U.S. has been sluggish, at best. Verizon, which has the most widespread LTE coverage in the U.S., recently said that only about 5% of its subscribers use LTE. The reasons for this response are numerous.

One, LTE networks have not been widely deployed yet. Two, LTE handsets are bulky, highly power-inefficient and much pricier than their 3G counterparts. The current handsets use separate app processors and baseband chipsets because the technology wasn't mature enough to provide an integrated low-cost solution. And three, as a nascent technology, LTE networks are also more prone to outages, as we have seen with Verizon's.

Having spent billions on their LTE networks, carriers such as Verizon are now willing to promote them heavily and launch nothing but 4G smartphones this year. It is also bringing down the prices of its LTE smartphones to drive LTE adoption. The latest Droid 4 offering from Verizon is available for only $199. In addition, the wireless carrier is currently promoting an LTE data plan that offers twice the usual monthly data allotment for half the price.

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