Ruthless competition in the handset market continues to drive manufacturers to search for new opportunities to drive down cost, printed circuit board (PCB) area and power consumption. Simultaneously, the rollout of third-generation (3G) networks has opened the door to a variety of new multimedia and data-based applications, from wireless Internet access and mobile video to text messaging and mobile TV. As demand for these new applications rises and the market becomes increasingly globalized, handset makers face a quandary. How can they support the increasing number of frequency bands to support global platforms and the multiple high-bandwidth technologies needed to deliver these new revenue-enhancing services without violating the market's strict cost, footprint and power constraints? The number of frequencies supported by the latest 3G partnership program (3GPP) standard has increased from three to 10 and is set to continue to expand. The current frequency bands and their associated bandwidths are shown in Figure 1.
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