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

To: Caxton Rhodes who wrote (24688)	3/22/1999 8:54:00 PM
From: Jon Koplik	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

To all: From RCR news Re: Q ERICY deal status rcrnews.com CINEWS March 22, 1999 Qualcomm, Ericsson near deal? By Lynnette Luna Tensions ran high at the International Telecommunication Union two-week meeting on third-generation technology in Fortaleza, Brazil, as the industry waits for an agreement between Qualcomm Inc. and L.M. Ericsson on cdmaOne patents. Qualcomm and Ericsson won't comment on progress made in negotiating a settlement over Code Division Multiple Access Standard-95 patents at issue in a Texas court. A trial is set for June 7. Sources close to the companies, however, indicate the two already have reached terms for a settlement and are hammering out the details. An announcement could come within weeks. Qualcomm employees were sternly warned not to comment on the matter. Ericsson spokeswoman Kathy Egan said ‘‘the rumors are flying.'' A settlement potentially could give the companies access to each other's technologies and settle the dispute over intellectual property rights to 3G technology. Qualcomm and Ericsson today remain deadlocked over 3G patents. Both claim to hold patents to W-CDMA and cdma2000 technologies—two major radio transmission technologies the ITU is considering for 3G networks that are incompatible. The ITU is trying to move ahead despite the IPR deadlock to decide on a family of standards this year. The loud message coming out of Fortaleza last week was that the ITU increasingly is taking its cue from industry and that it wants a limited number of 3G standards. The two-week ITU Plenary meeting that ended Friday resulted in a draft recommendation outlining the key characteristics of 3G radio interfaces, which restructured work done in last month's Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, meeting. Last month's meeting resulted in the ITU rubber-stamping all 16 radio transmission proposals submitted by standards bodies and other entities from around the world. The draft obtained by RCR adopts a similar framework decided by wireless executives at a February TransAtlantic Business Dialogue meeting in Washington. U.S. and European wireless executives agreed to pursue a framework for an umbrella CDMA standard that combines common elements of competing CDMA technologies and gives operators the ability to choose from three different CDMA modes—W-CDMA, cdma2000 and a Time-Division duplex mode for unpaired spectrum. TDMA backers keep their technology intact as well. Yet major challenges of translating TDMA and umbrella, tri-mode CDMA technical characteristics into standards and resolving controversial technical and trade issues remain. ‘‘A lot of work needs to be done, but the foundation is there,'' said Frank Urbany, international senior vice president for BellSouth Corp. The chip rate issue and synchronization schemes remain hurdles for harmonizing the CDMA proposals even further. W-CDMA backers and cdma2000 supporters remain deadlocked over harmonizing the chip rate. W-CDMA supporters do not want to move the rate below 3.84 Megachips per second, citing capacity reasons. Cdma2000 supporters say they need the rate to stay at 3.68 Mcps to remain compatible with today's cdmaOne systems. ‘‘There was not much harmonization at this meeting,'' said a person who attended the meeting. ‘‘The hope is that some strong words will come out of the London (carrier) meeting to provide some guidance.'' In a series of meetings in recent months, carriers from around the world have met to discuss harmonizing the CDMA proposals. They are set to meet today and tomorrow in London in a meeting similar to one held in Beijing in early January involving 14 operators from Asia, Europe and the United States. Carriers also remain split over the chip-rate issue. Back in the nation's capital, the debate continues on whether the United States should be entertaining a 3G wireless trade war with Europe. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), chairman of the Senate communications subcommittee, wrote U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky last week urging her against taking retaliatory trade action against the European Union for locking out CDMA technology. ‘‘I believe ... that the more drastic options at your disposal should be reserved for well identified anticompetitive trade practices or market barriers,'' said Burns. He suggested the United States pursue 3G trade concerns through ‘‘the appropriate bilateral and multilateral means, such as the World Trade Organization.'' In addition, the Information Technology Industry Council is said to have sent letters to key lawmakers on commerce and trade committees informing them of the 3G consensus reached at February's TABD meeting. It is unclear, however, whether the Clinton administration is ready to back off 3G—one of several flashpoints in current U.S.-EU trade relations. ‘‘We are monitoring the ITU standards process and EU member-state 3G licensing decisions to assure U.S. technologies receive equal treatment,'' said a U.S. official. Copyright 1999, all rights reserved.