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Operators Side with ITU over 3G Dispute
By Vanessa Clark
18 December 1998
Eleven major European and Asian cellular operators have sided with the International Telecommunications Union over third generation (3G)
mobile standards and urged L.M. Ericsson and Qualcomm Inc. to resolve their longstanding intellectual property right dispute by 31
December 1998.
The statement apparently flies in the face of Ericsson's announcement this month that it would reduce the chip speed rate of its wideband
CDMA specification in order to develop a 3G dual-mode handset that could be used with both the European and Japanese-backed
W-CDMA air interface and cdma2000 standard, supported by a primarily American, Korean and Australian camp led by Qualcomm. The
statement specifically says that the group supports a single technical standard.
The group also say that any IPR issues should be discussed separately from the ITU's standard setting activities and that IPR licenses should
be granted on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions.
The group of operators include NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc., Telia Mobile AB, BT, Deutsche Telekom MobileNet GmbH,
France Telecom SA, Japan Telecom Co. Ltd, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd, Singapore Telecom Mobile Pte Ltd, SmarTone Mobile
Communications Ltd, Sonera Ltd, Telecom Italia Mobile SpA. Officials were not available to comment. |
