Nokia, the world leader in mobile telecommunications and Huawei Technologies, the leading Chinese vendor for communications equipment and network solutions have signed an agreement on cross-licensing of WCDMA related patents covering the manufacturing and sales of WCDMA infrastructure equipment globally.
The agreement ensures both companies to access each other's state of the art IPR's under the WCDMA standard at a very competitive royalty rate.
The signing of the agreement demonstrates Nokia's commitment to partnering with local vendors in promoting WCDMA technology in China through lowering the threshold of technology transfer. It is also an important milestone for Chinese vendors to enter into international cross-license practices and the global WCDMA market. WCDMA has been adopted as the 3G technology standard by the majority of the world's mobile operators.
"Nokia is fully committed to develop its local capability of manufacturing advanced mobile telecommunications equipment in China. We are very happy to cooperate with Chinese vendors like Huawei on this kind of agreement. It represents an important beginning of a process to make state of the art technologies available to more and more domestic manufacturers. Nokia is very happy to be in a position to be part of this process. Eventually, the benefits from this agreement will reach all the members of the industry in China." Says David Ho, Vice President of Nokia Networks China.
"Huawei attaches great importance to R&D. While building up our own IPR basis, Huawei is also keen on IPR related cooperation with world leading manufacturers like Nokia. The WCDMA patent cross-license agreement between the two companies demonstrates our strong commitment to WCDMA," says Xu Zhijun, Vice President of Huawei Technologies.
About WCDMA
WCDMA is the most efficient technology for integrated mobile voice and data networks. WCDMA - like GSM/EDGE technologies - is a fully standardized global solution with open interfaces. It provides high-data rates and the benefits of global production volumes. WCDMA is fast emerging as the global standard of choice for next-generation communications, with 85% of the global 3G network markets expected to be based on WCDMA.
About Huawei Technologies
Incorporated in 1988 and headquartered in Shenzhen, China, Huawei Technologies (www.huawei.com) is a private high-tech enterprise fully owned by its employees. Huawei specializes in the research and development (R&D), production and marketing of telecommunications equipment, providing customized network solutions for telecom carriers in fixed, mobile, optical network and data communications network. Sales in 2002 were 2.7 billion US dollars.
Huawei products have been put into wide applications in over 40 countries including Germany, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Egypt, Thailand, Singapore and South Korea. Among Huawei's 22,000 employees, 46 percent are engaged in R&D. Each year Huawei invests no less than 10 percent of its revenues into R&D.
About Nokia
Nokia is committed to long-term development and preferred partnership in China. With innovative technology, Nokia has continuously strengthened its market position in China as a leading supplier of mobile and broadband network systems and mobile phones. In China, Nokia is the largest exporter in the telecommunications industry. Nokia has established more than twenty offices, eight joint ventures and two R&D centers, with nearly 5,000 employees in China.
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.
Further information:
Communications Department, Nokia Networks
Tel. (Int.) + 358 (0) 7180 38198
E-mail: networks.communications@nokia.com
www.nokia.com