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To: Valueman who wrote (24934)	3/25/1999 9:02:00 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 152472

Text of latest WSJ article on this stuff. (May be slightly different than earlier versions). I think the headline "says it all." March 25, 1999 Ericsson's Deal With Qualcomm Ends Wireless-Standards Dispute An INTERACTIVE JOURNAL News Roundup Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson of Sweden announced a deal Thursday with Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego that will resolve a long-running dispute over the future of wireless communications. Ericsson and Qualcomm have agreed to jointly support one single world digital CDMA standard with three optimal modes for the next generation of mobile communications, the company said. CDMA stands for code division multiple access and is the backbone of so-called third-generation wireless communications, which will allow for the transmission of high-speed data and video in addition to standard wireless voice communication. Ericsson and Qualcomm will also gain access to each other's product portfolios by cross-licensing and have agreed to settle the existing litigation between the two companies, Ericsson said. In addition, Ericsson will buy Qualcomm's terrestrial wireless CDMA infrastructure operations, including its research and development facilities in San Diego, California, and Boulder, Colorado. Once a vocal opponent of CDMA, Ericsson has come to embrace a version of CDMA for future wireless communications. Earlier this year, Irwin M. Jacobs, chairman and chief executive of Qualcomm, had a series of discussions with Sven-Christer Nilsson, president of Ericsson, about ways the two parties could use each other's core technologies. Qualcomm is the best-known backer of CDMA. However, Ericsson filed suit in 1996, alleging that Qualcomm's CDMA technology violated Ericsson patents. The case was expected to come to trial in April in federal court in Marshall, Texas. The deal Thursday could bring peace between the two chief combatants in a fight over the approved technical specifications of the third-generation, or 3G, phones. But some proposed 3G specifications could make obsolete several billion dollars of existing CDMA systems, while others would jeopardize the installed base of GSM equipment. Officials from both the European community and the Clinton administration, prompted by their respective European and U.S. companies, recently have clashed over the specifications. In January, several U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard, sent a letter to European Commissioner for Industrial Affairs Martin Bangemann expressing concern that Europe would adopt a single, exclusive standard for 3G. Instead of a single standard that favors one company over another, Ericsson and Qualcomm executives say, regulators are likely to recommend multiple standards that allow existing GSM or CDMA networks to migrate to 3G, with all using a common radio interface similar to CDMA. "There will be a family of standards. That's how it will come down," said Keith Shank, director of strategic marketing for Ericsson, earlier this year. --Quentin Hardy, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal, contributed to this report. Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.