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

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (8601)	2/17/1998 3:36:00 PM
From: kech	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

This adds an interesting wrinkle to the discussion. QCOM wants 2-5% royalties on W-CDMA. Europeans say they'll do something else. If they can still change it that much, one gets the feeling that this W-CDMA thing is a little "half-baked". Or as some would say, "vaporware". Just my opinion though. Headline: New mobile telecom standard seen in use in 2001 ====================================================================== By William Emmanuel CANNES, France, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Operators and manufacturers of mobile telecommunications systems expect to be able to start using the UMTS standard in 2001 or 2002. UMTS, the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, is set to replace the Global Standard for Mobile telecoms (GSM) and make mobile services more powerful. UMTS, which was adopted by the industry during a Paris meeting last month, was at the heart of discussions at the GSM World Congress here. Until recently, manufacturers such as Alcatel Alsthom (NYSE:ALA)(SBF:CGEP), Ericsson AB (SWED:LME.B) and Motorola Inc (NYSE:MOT) insisted on finding a compromise around the CDMA -- code division multiple access -- technology to allow the rapid arrival of a new generation of mobile phones. But questions remain, especially about the payment of royalties to holders of key patents under Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Several participants at the congress said QUALCOMM Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM), which has four key patents, has told operators they had to pay between two and five percent of sales in royalties. Executives of phone operators said they found this demand too high and have told QUALCOMM they could use another technology. UMTS offers a capacity over several hundreds of kilobits per second (150Kb/s at the start and later 2MB/s) against 9.6 Kb/s for GSM. The higher capacity would allow Internet applications as well as video images on a portable terminal. Alain Bravo, chairman of the Mobile Communications division of Alcatel Alsthom said such a development was needed to prolong the life of GSM. "The fact that all the players have agreed on UMTS will extend the life of GSM because the people who invest in GSM are now convinced that there will be compatibility with the third generation," he said. He added Alcatel planned UMTS tests from the third quarter. Kurt Hellstroem, executive vice-president at Ericsson, said the new standard was needed due to the "very strong demand for capacity and security." While some critics wondered whether it was really necessary to be able to receive video images on a portable phone, Hellstroem said: "The matter is not only whether you can see video on a phone. But Internet is using more and more video and people want to be able to receive more and more data, more and more quickly." He believed the new standard could be put in place soon. "I believe that UMTS will start being used from 2001-2002. The Japanese are saying 2000, but we think it is more realistic to say 2001-2002." Some experts are more cautious and say the GSM norm, developed in 1982, took 10 years to become a commercial success. Arun Sobti, a Motorola vice-president, said UMTS would benefit from better conditions than GSM at the time, noting the big increase in the use of mobile communications. "There is a strong demand to extend the use of Internet and Intranets," he said, but, he noted, "We have to be sure that the matter of IPR will be settled." paris.newsroom@reuters.com))

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (8601)	2/17/1998 4:34:00 PM
From: Walter Liu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Tero: "I'm quite certain that you are aware that most of the companies endorsing Qualcomm's CDMA are second string wannabes in telecom markets (most, not all)" This is totally false. All the cellular carrier in the US adopts IS-95 as their digital upgrade technology choice because GSM is not backward compatible with AMPS. This include Airtouch, USWest, BANM, GTE, etc... Using your investment-smart mentality of the carriers, who do you think they will use for 3G technology for their future growth? Ericssion's and Nokia's which is not compatible with IS95? No way.