QCOM--Qualcomm buys into Com Dev, transfers high-speed wireless technology
CAMBRIDGE, Ont. (CP) - American Fortune 500 mobile-phone maker Qualcomm Inc. (NasdaqNM:QCOM - news) is taking an equity stake in Ontario-based Com Dev International Ltd. as Com Dev strives to make wireless Internet connections as fast as cable or phone-line links.
The arrangement announced Monday also involves licence and technology transfer agreements giving Com Dev access to Qualcomm's high data rate technology to "advance and support the development of Com Dev's new mobile high-speed wireless Internet system."
Financial details of the "multimillion-dollar" agreements were not announced.
Com Dev, a designer and maker of wireless systems and subsystems, will acquire the right to use Qualcomm code division multiple access infrastructure designs, base stations and mobile modem cards, on a royalty basis.
The technology from Qualcomm "will make Com Dev's high-speed wireless Internet system a viable wireless alternative to DSL and cable modem services," said Keith Ainsworth, president and CEO of Com Dev, which has more than 1,200 employees in Ontario, New Brunswick, the United States, Britain and China.
"Qualcomm welcomes and supports Com Dev's entrepreneurial application of Qualcomm's HDR technology in its new high-speed wireless Internet product," Marvin Blecker, Qualcomm's senior vice-president of technology, said in a joint statement.
"Our discussions led to a decision to make an equity investment in the company to encourage and foster the expansion of innovative CDMA and HDR applications." © The Canadian Press, 2000 |
