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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: techguerrilla who wrote (76041)	7/9/2000 9:27:34 PM
From: Labrador	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

The WSJ article's now changed. And it has a quote that's nonsensical regarding royalty charges. South Korean Firms Lean Against New Qualcomm Wireless Technology By HAE WON CHOI, PUI-WING TAM and KHANH T.L. TRAN Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL SEOUL, South Korea -- The top three cellular-phone service providers in South Korea are leaning against adopting Qualcomm Inc.'s next-generation technology for mobile telecommunications services, but they said a final decision hasn't yet been reached. SK Telecom Co., Korea Telecom Corp. and LG Telecom Co., which are all vying to get licenses from the South Korean government to provide next-generation services, said they prefer to adopt the wireless code division multiple access, or WCDMA, technology from Finland's Nokia Corp. and Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson rather than from Qualcomm, based in San Diego. All three, however, said their preferences may change. The three companies said they favor WCDMA against Qualcomm's CDMA2000 because they expect that the WCDMA will be more widely used globally than CDMA2000. "We want to adopt a technology that can be used across the world," said Lee Jung Hwan, a spokesman at LG Telecom. The other reason is cost, they said. "It would save us money to use Nokia and Ericsson's technology over Qualcomm's if we decide to use the WCDMA," said Won Hong Sik, an assistant manager at the public relations team at SK Telecom. All of South Korea's cellular phone services uses Qualcomm's CDMA technology, and royalties from Korea have been a major source of revenue for Qualcomm. Officials who were able to talk about the royalty rates at Qualcomm in Seoul couldn't be reached for comment. South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication will be giving three licenses for next-generation mobile services, called IMT-2000, by year end and companies are expected to place their bids by end of September. "When the companies place their bids, each bidder must decide whether it is going to adopt the CDMA2000 or the WCDMA technology," a spokesman at the ministry said. "So we will know by September what technology each company will choose." WCDMA, developed by Nokia and Ericsson, competes with Qualcomm's CDMA2000 in the global wireless industry, company officials said. Both technologies offer a coterie of sophisticated technological access including high-speed Internet access and Web browsing through cellular phones. Christine Trimble, a Qualcomm spokeswoman said Qualcomm "doesn't believe an official technology decision has been made in Korea," adding that the company was "in ongoing conversations with our customers there and with the government." Ms. Trimble also said Qualcomm "expects Korean operators will support both modes -- WCDMA and CDMA2000." She noted that Qualcomm holds patents for both WCDMA and CDMA2000 and has already extended licensing agreements for these, so that licensees pay the same royalty rates no matter which CDMA standard is used. Some analysts said that whatever the decision from Korea's main wireless operators, it wouldn't have a huge impact on Qualcomm. Brian Modoff, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Alex Brown in San Francisco, said that Qualcomm still benefits no matter what version of CDMA is used in Korea because the company gains royalties "regardless of which version of mobile CDMA an operator chooses to deploy." Nonetheless, shares of Qualcomm slid in heavy trading on Friday following the reports from Korea. As of 4 p.m. on the Nasdaq Stock Market, the stock was down $5.0625, or 8.2%, to $56.625, down 8.2% from its previous day close of $61.6875. Write to Hae Won Choi at haewon.choi@wsj.com, Pui-Wing Tam at pui-wing.tam@wsj.com and Khanh T.L. Tran at khanh.tran@wsj.com

To: techguerrilla who wrote (76041)	7/9/2000 11:05:16 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

. Does anyone want to bet against my position that wCDMA never rolls out? NEVER. I'll take a gentleman's bet on that....W-CDMA has too many companies working on it, for it to fail completely. The combined R&D which has been poured into the project will bring it to fruition. Many Qualcomm posters seem to hold the following positions.... 1) W-CDMA is vapourware which will never see the light of day (or will take at least 3 years to roll-out). 2) W-CDMA is just a minor variation of CDMA2000 and thus Qualcomm will dominate this chipset market. Which is it? Either it is a minor variation, which should lead to a relatively easy roll-out, or it is completely different which would likely negate some of Qualcomm's lead in CDMA chipsets. Slacker