Qualcomm Says It's Confident in CDMA Phone Agreement With China
By Craig Addison
Qualcomm Says It's Confident in CDMA Phone Agreement With China
Beijing, Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Qualcomm Inc. said it has
confidence in the agreement it signed last week with China Unicom,
the nation's No. 2 phone company, even though a report today
indicated Chinese authorities will postpone introduction of the
U.S. company's digital phone technology.
China has delayed plans to build a digital mobile telephone
network using Qualcomm code division multiple access technology,
the Asian Wall Street Journal said, quoting officials from foreign
telecommunications equipment makers. China will delay the project
on ``political' grounds, the report said.
Qualcomm, whose CDMA is the world's fastest-growing cellular
standard, is challenging the rival global system for mobile
communications technology that's used in both China and Europe.
The Chinese market is a fertile target, with cellular-phone users
forecast to increase 63 percent this year to 70 million.
``Clearly our agreement is a win-win for both parties and
demonstrates China's willingness and desire to be an active
participant in the global economy,' the Qualcomm statement said.
Still, even Qualcomm's chief executive, Irwin Jacobs, who was
in Beijing Feb. 16 to sign a framework agreement with China Unicom
to license its CDMA technology to Chinese phone makers, remains
cautious. Referring to last week's framework pact, Jacobs
yesterday said he hoped it is a final agreement.
``You can never tell in China,' Jacobs said, speaking at a
Roth Capital Partners investment conference in Dana Point,
California. ``We still need to sign individual agreements' with
Chinese phone manufacturers.
Were the CDMA pact to proceed, Chinese phone makers will be
allowed nationwide sale and manufacturing rights to Qualcomm's
CDMA technology and will be able to export their products.
According to the framework agreement between Qualcomm and
Unicom, Chinese manufacturers that sign up with the U.S. company
to use its technology must first obtain licenses from the Chinese
government.
In China the U.S.-developed CDMA standard lags the rival
European-developed global system for mobile communications. China
agreed only last March to open its nationwide market to CDMA as a
concession to the U.S. for entry to the World Trade Organization. |
