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To: bananawind who wrote (14414)9/1/1998 2:54:00 PM
From: bananawind  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 152472
 
Ericsson will bend on 3G IPR

rcrnews.com

By Lynnette Luna

L.M. Ericsson head Sven-Christer Nilsson told the Japanese press late last week his company will
continue negotiations with Qualcomm Inc. and said it is ready to reach some form of compromise
over intellectual property rights to third-generation technology.

Ericsson spokeswoman Kathy Egan said the company ``is looking for a situation to work for all the
different standards ... Ericsson is willing to pay royalties if they are reasonable.''

Nilsson's statement comes as Qualcomm is lobbying Capitol Hill to take a stand and pose a trade
issue against Europe's standards-setting process, which Qualcomm and other vendors claim is
closed to cdmaOne technology. Ericsson has been accused of strong-arming the standards process
in Europe.

Qualcomm and Ericsson are battling it out for access to the multibillion-dollar market in the next
century that promises Internet-friendly wireless phones with sophisticated high-speed data and
multimedia features.

Qualcomm claims to hold key patents to Code Division Multiple Access technology. Every major
vendor except Ericsson has licensed the technology for Interim Standard 95 systems currently used
in the United States and abroad. Ericsson has pushed for GSM-based wideband-CDMA
technology for 3G services. The standard was subsequently adopted by European and Japanese
standards bodies for 3G technology. The International Telecommunication Union is evaluating the
16 3G proposals submitted by organizations and standards bodies around the world. Most of the
proposals incorporate some form of W-CDMA technology.

Qualcomm has made it clear it will not grant its CDMA IPRs for the W-CDMA standard unless it is
converged with cdma2000, the 3G standard based on IS-95 technology, to allow for backward
compatibility to current systems.

Ericsson previously has claimed its customers don't want backward compatibility since they will be
purchasing new spectrum and won't need to migrate from current-generation systems. Convergence
would degrade the standard in terms of capacity, said Ericsson.

A compromise may be difficult for both companies, which have a history of bad blood and lawsuits
over CDMA technology. Most industry observers were under the impression the two have yet to
negotiate the issue.

One key element separating the two CDMA technologies is the chip rate. Qualcomm is not willing
to compromise on the chip rate. W-CDMA proponents want a higher chip rate, but Qualcomm
says the rate would make the technology incompatible with existing cdmaOne systems.

Sources have indicated that Ericsson believes Qualcomm's royalty fees for CDMA technology are
unreasonable, and would license the technology at a lower cost than what Qualcomm is willing to
agree to.

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute has said it acknowledges that Qualcomm
holds CDMA IPRs, but has not commented on whether it is open to convergence of the two
CDMA standards. Qualcomm's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Irwin Jacobs said it's
not enough for Europe to accept both CDMA standards. They must be converged.

``The operators over there would be forced to use one version over the other version,'' he said.
``We continue to be for different technologies, but convergence would avoid these kinds of
problems.''

The ITU has added the requirement that all companies by Dec. 31 must submit a written statement
that any known IPR is either free or available on reasonable terms. Otherwise, they will be thrown
out. The ITU must come up with standards that are free of any IPR hurdles.

An agreement between Qualcomm and Ericsson could bridge the gap in Japan, where government
bodies have been trying to merge the two CDMA proposals.

``We are seeking ... the sole international standard because it is more beneficial for customers,''
said Masayoshi Wakao, managing director of the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses,
Japan's standards body. ``If parties in the standardization process agree to a certain system based
on superiority in the technology, it's fine. We don't care which is chosen.''

However, Europe and the United States are insisting on their ideas and do not offer any
compromise, explained Yasuo Tawara, deputy director of the Ministry of Posts and
Telecommunications' Land Mobile Communications Division. ARIB has been negotiating with the
ETSI and the United States' Telecommunications Industry Association and the T1P1 committee
through both official and unofficial channels.

GSM carriers in the United States are adamant on moving forward with the W-CDMA standard.

Yaeko Mitsumori contributed to this article.



To: bananawind who wrote (14414)9/1/1998 3:06:00 PM
From: bananawind  Respond to of 152472
 
Rockwell introduces CDMA chipset

rcrnews.com

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.-Rockwell Semiconductor Systems last week introduced its first
chipset using Code Division Multiple Access technology.

The chipset is an integrated radio-frequency subsystem for CDMA that also supports Advanced
Mobile Phone Service analog cellular phones. The chipset can be used in single-mode CDMA
applications, dual-mode CDMA/AMPS applications and tri-mode applications with CDMA
operating in either cellular or personal communications services frequencies.

``Expansion into the CDMA market with a dual-band, multimode radio subsystem solution is a
logical next step for Rockwell,'' said Vijay Parikh, vice president and general manager for
Rockwell's Wireless Communications Division.

The three-device chipset includes the RF250 receiver, the RF251 transmitter and the RF252
CDMA baseband analog processor. The RF250 includes two low-noise amplifiers, one for 800
MHz operation and one to support 1900 MHz operation. The 1900 MHz LNA also can be
configured for Korean PCS frequencies.

The chipset is priced at $35 in quantities of 10,000 units, said the company.