Movement seen in 3G cell-phone stalemate
eet.com
Following the press conference, Jacobs said he sees hope for a reconciliation between his company and overseas rivals on the question of 3G phones, in the wake of a recent round of meetings. European and Japanese factions have supported an air interface dubbed Wideband Code Division Multiple Access that delivers data at rates up to 2 Mbits/second, but is not backward-compatible with the version of CDMA developed by Qualcomm and currently being deployed in the United States. In a standoff on the issue, Qualcomm had threatened to withhold rights to basic CDMA patents to WCDMA backers.
"The only thing I can say is, if you asked me three months ago, the answer would have been there was no movement whatsoever, now there is movement and progress" toward a reconciliation, Jacobs reported, based in part on a meeting earlier this month in North Carolina. "There's no major agreement, but there has definitely been progress. Exactly how or whether it will work out, I don't know."
Jacobs said all interested parties will submit to the International Telecommunications Union by the end of December a notice of any intellectual-property rights they claim to CDMA and how they will handle licensing. Qualcomm will offer "fair and equitable" access to its technology, Jacobs said, but it will also petition the ITU to develop "a converged standard."
"There is still some significant difference of opinions, but people realize there are a lot of jobs and money involved in this," Jacobs said.
Regards
JC. |
