This Weeks 3G News By Photos

US : QUALCOMM Incorporated announced it has expanded the terms of Casio Computer Co., Ltd.'s existing subscriber unit license agreement to include all 3G CDMA standards (i.e., CDMA2000, WCDMA/UMTS, TD-SCDMA).

Under the terms of the royalty-bearing expansion, QUALCOMM has granted Casio a worldwide license under QUALCOMM's CDMA patent portfolio to develop, manufacture and sell subscriber units implementing any 3G CDMA standard. The royalties payable by Casio are at QUALCOMM's standard rates and are the same irrespective of the CDMA standard implemented by the subscriber unit.

"QUALCOMM is pleased to license Casio, a leading consumer electronics company, for the manufacture and sale of 3G subscriber units," said Marvin Blecker, president of QUALCOMM Technology Licensing. "This license will allow Casio to offer 3G handsets that provide consumers the opportunity to have high-quality, high-speed, wireless access to feature-rich multimedia applications and services. Casio's initiative to add WCDMA products to their product line is a testament of yet another manufacturer recognizing the market value of 3G products."

"WCDMA is a rapidly-growing worldwide standard for providing advanced mobile wireless services," said Kanji Ozawa, director of business development, Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications. "QUALCOMM, as the leader of CDMA technologies, continues to promote competition, innovation and technological advancement through its broad licensing program and offering of a comprehensive array of chipset and software solutions. This license agreement will enable us to expand our product offering to include a wide variety of WCDMA devices, fulfilling the needs of the 3G market."