Increasing consumer spending in emerging markets is creating new growth opportunities for mobile phone manufacturers, offering escape from the cutthroat competition in North America and Europe. Major vendors such as Hewlett-Packard are spearheading the charge into this rapidly expanding segment, and their component suppliers are following suit.

On Monday, semiconductor giant Broadcom pulled the curtains back on a turnkey reference design that provides 4G LTE connectivity at a particularly low price point, making it easier for OEMs to compete in regions such as China and India where affordability is often the main differentiator. The platform is specifically designed to power Android smartphones priced under $300, and includes out-of-the-box support for the latest KitKat release of Google’s operating system to save manufacturers the trouble of addressing compatibility on their own.

To make things even simpler, Broadcom had the specification certified by “leading carriers worldwide” and included the ability to configure it for either FDD-LTE or TD-LTE, the standard backed by China Mobile.

Robert Rango, the general manager of the firm’s Mobile and Wireless Group, noted in a statement that “Broadcom’s turnkey team achieved a design with a very low cost bill of material (RBOM) to enable handset companies to quickly and efficiently take Broadcom’s LTE solutions to market. In addition, this turnkey design is flexible and allows OEMs to build a wide range of LTE handsets.”

The design works with Broadcom’s new dual-core M320 system-on-a-chip, which in already in production, as well as the upcoming quad-core M340. The SOCs can handle LTE UE Category 4 channels with speeds up to 150Mbps, reducing power consumption by as much as 30 percent, and ship with built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, location and near field communication (NFC) modules. To top it off, the chips also integrate with VoLTE and HD Voice for improved call quality.

Image source Broadcom