Virtually every chip provider in the mobile world has spent considerable sums trying to get into the modem game, but it has proved really tough to chip away at Qualcomm and MediaTek. These two ‘ one at the high end, one at the low, but increasingly converging on one another ‘ look like taking the duopoly role that Texas Instruments and Freescale enjoyed in pre-smartphone handsets. Broadcom is the latest silicon provider looking to shed its baseband business, saying it is assessing its ‘strategic alternatives’ for the unit ‘ only nine months after it acquired Renesas Mobile, another large chip firm’s failed modem business. It has appointed JP Morgan to advise it, and expects to cut its annual R&D and…