The Fairphone 2 modem firmware
This #wiki post summarizes all information regarding the modem firmware for the Fairphone 2 and the community provided, flashable modem.zip file.
You can quickly link to this article via the unique-tag #modemfiles.
Download the latest modem.zip here.
Latest version: 19.11.2 (includes baseband version 4437.1-FP2-0-08)
All previous versions can be found here and here. Checksums for the later are here.
FAQ
If you have any question regarding the modem.zip file that is not answered by the following FAQ, please ask your question in a separate thread and link it here. We’re happy to answer you any question! 
What is the modem.zip file and why should I flash it?
The modem.zip file contains the latest version of the proprietary components of the Qualcomm chipset on your phone. You should flash the latest version of the modem.zip file to get the latest security and bug fixes for these proprietary components.
Is it necessary to flash the modem.zip file?
No, it is not necessary, but it is recommended to get the latest security fixes on custom ROMs and third party operating systems such as Lineage OS, Ubuntu Touch or B2G (formerly Firefox OS). If you run a custom operating system and don’t update your modem firmware, your device might be vulnerable to attacks.
I’m using Fairphone OS or Fairphone Open OS, do I need the modem.zip file?
No! Please don’t flash the modem.zip file as your phone gets regular updates for the modem firmware via official Fairphone OS/Fairphone Open OS updates.
Should I flash the modem.zip before or after installing LineageOS?
As the modem firmware is completely independent from the operating system (e.g. does not touch the /system partition), it does not matter at all in which order your flash it.
What components are part of the modem.zip file?
Besides the baseband firmware, the modem.zip file contains multiple proprietary components for the Qualcomm chipset. Namely the splash screen (ok that one isn’t proprietary), the bootloader and the trust zone firmware.
Why is the modem.zip file not provided by Fairphone?
Fairphone does not provide a modem.zip file yet as they update the proprietary components via the Fairphone OS and Fairphone Open OS update process. As these are the only official operating systems for the Fairphone 2, there is no need for Fairphone to provide a separate modem.zip. The community, though, would be grateful if Fairphone could provide such a modem.zip file in the future.
For further discussion on this question please continue here.
How does the community build the modem.zip file, is it trustworthy?
We extract the proprietary files from the official Fairphone OS binary image, that can be found on the Fairphone OS downloads website. We provided a shell script that extracts the official Fairphone OS image, strips the unnecessary parts and repacks it into a reproducible modem.zip file. So you can roll your own, and verify our work, if you don’t trust us.
Build your own modem.zip file
You can build your own modem.zip file by using our script that is available on GitHub.
In general, simply clone the repository and follow the simple instructions in the README.md file.
On Windows 10, you might use the Windows Subsystem for Linux to run the script (example for Windows 10 1809 and Ubuntu 16.04):
-
Install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (aka WSL).
-
Install Ubuntu 16.04 from the Microsoft Store.
-
Once set up enter the following commands …
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install zip
sudo apt install make -
wget https://github.com/WeAreFairphone/modem_zip_generator/archive/master.zip -
unzip master.zip -
cd modem_zip_generator-master -
At this point, perhaps
Makefilemay not be up to date, so you could edit in the latest OS version number, download links and checksums at the start of the script …
nano Makefile
… Right clicking pastes something into the Linux terminal, so you can transfer the links and checksums over from the Fairphone Open OS download page (which is usually faster in publishing new versions compared to the Fairphone OS pages), and don’t forget to change the OS version number in the script,
and Control+O saves the file. -
make build
… creates the new directory “build”, and the new modem.zip file in it. -
Transfer the created modem.zip over to Windows … C: is mounted on the Linux side as /mnt/c … so you can copy it to somewhere the currently logged in user of the Windows side would have write permissions, e.g. …
sudo cp ./build/modem.zip /mnt/c/Users/yourwindowsusername/Desktop
Note for developers
The NON-HLOS.bin image was provided for some now obsolete versions of the modem.zip by @z3ntu with a version history on GitHub.