All, The Q Raises The Bar;>
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Wednesday October 14 5:10 PM EDT
Qualcomm raises stakes in mobile phone battle
By Suzanne Perry
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc (QCOM - news), the San Diego, Cal.-based telecom equipment company, raised the
stakes in a transatlantic battle over the next generation of mobile telephones Wednesday, saying it would not license key
technologies to European rivals.
Qualcomm said in a statement that it had written to global telecoms body the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
saying it would not grant patent rights to companies using a European-backed standard to develop wireless communications
products. It asserted its rights to hold and license ''essential intellectual property rights'' for its mobile phone system.
Qualcomm stock jumped on Nasdaq Wednesday after the announcement, up $4 to $45, as investors apparently decided the
company was signalling a stronger than anticipated position in the phone market with its move. It also pointed to the potential
for new expansion abroad.
The move effectively prevents the ITU, a United Nations agency, from recommending the technology developed by European
companies, including Nordic manufacturers Ericsson and Nokia as a global standard.
It is the latest wrinkle in a global race to supply consumers with mobile phones that offer data services, moving video images
and Internet access-a race some U.S. companies fear will end up shutting them out of the European market.
The 15-nation European Union has been promoting efforts to draw up a common standard for the new products that would
mimic the success of Europe's existing GSM mobile phone standard.
The European technology for a mobile communications ''radio interface'' was endorsed by the European Telecommunications
Standards Institute in Nice, France -- a body composed mostly of industry representatives that draws up standards for the
European market.
That standard, W-CDMA, draws heavily from a technology pioneered by Qualcomm known as CDMA (Code Division
Multiple Access), but Qualcomm complains that it would not be compatible with the competing standard that it
supports-cdma2000.
William Bold, Qualcomm's vice president for government affairs, said the company wants a single, ''converged'' standard
based on CDMA technology so consumers can use their equipment anywhere in the world.
He told Reuters that companies should work together to develop a high-performing standard that is also compatible with both
of the existing dominant mobile communications network standards.
''However, if we don't achieve this goal, Qualcomm is moving ahead aggressively with the cdma2000 standard,'' he said.
An spokesman said the ETSI was studying the implications of Qualcomm's letter to the ITU but he could not comment further.
U.S. officials have expressed concern that the EU, by backing a common European standard, will exclude competing
technologies.
U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said in a September letter to Senator Ernest Hollings that she was reviewing
EU actions to ensure they were compatible with World Trade Organisation rules.
European Commission officials have stressed the EU has no intention of discriminating against foreign manufacturers and no
plans to make the European standard compulsory.
(Reuters/Wired)
Tue Oct 13 | Mon Oct 12 | Fri Oct 09 | Thu Oct 08 | Wed Oct 07
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