BUSINESS WIRE - June 04, 2001 13:00
NEW YORK and LOS GATOS, Calif., Jun 4, 2001 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- While Europe and Japan have paced the
wireless industry in recent years, news that European third-generation wireless networks are as much as 3 years behind
schedule and that Japan telecom giant NTT DoCoMo is experiencing difficulties with its Wideband CDMA alternative
suggests that the United States is now solidly in the lead, with several service providers set to launch 3G wireless networks
based on Qualcomm's CDMA technology this year, writes Editor Andrew M. Seybold in the current issue of the investment
advisory newsletter Forbes/Andrew Seybold's Wireless Outlook.
Qualcomm has consistently prevailed in court cases involving infringements on its technology and companies subscribing to
its 3G CDMA technology have leaped ahead, Seybold notes. The irony, he says, is that the Europeans and Japanese tried to
avoid paying royalties for Qualcomm's superior 3G technology, instead promoting rival technologies such as UMTS (Europe)
and WCDMA (Japan).
Getting these technologies to work without incorporating more of the Qualcomm intellectual property will be a long hard
battle, he believes.
"Those who got on (Qualcomm's) bandwagon will be first to market with 3G services," he writes. "Starting this year
Qualcomm will collect royalties from U.S. service operators as well as operators in Australia, Japan, Korea and China.
Later on, it will receive royalty revenues from NTT DoCoMo and the European network operators."
Moreover, Seybold adds, most of the chips that run the 3G network-compatible handsets come from Qualcomm's
semiconductor group, which he says the company plans to spin off.
"Now you know why we have been touting Qualcomm stock from the very inception of this newsletter," he writes. Further,
the situation presents significant opportunities for investors to "cash in on the new-found U.S. position as the leader in 3G
wireless networks" by buying shares in several network operators that he recommends.
Seybold also examines the impact of 3G wireless on several wireless information service providers that he says will also
reap the rewards of an early rollout of a high-speed wireless data. An associated article looks at telematics plays, companies
with products that connect motorists wirelessly to a growing menu of services.
"This is not pie-in-the-sky stuff," he writes. "Nearly half of all new-car buyers demand that their autos come with telematics
services ... the number of in-vehicle telematics systems will grow to more than 11 million by 2004."
Contributing Editor Barney L. Dewey presents his monthly update of the model portfolio of promising wireless companies
constructed by Forbes/Andrew Seybold's Outlook staff, reviewing significant recent events driving the various companies.
In his "Companies to Watch" column, Dewey analyzes Glenayre Technologies' (Nasdaq:GEMS) restructuring activities and
its move to focus on unified communications (one number checks all) and its move out of its historic wireless messaging
business. |
