HELSINKI—A number of the world’s largest technology companies
agreed to commit to a licensing framework for their patents for the emerging
mobile network technology known as Long Term Evolution (LTE).
The companies, which include the world’s largest cellphone
maker Nokia and top mobile network gear maker Ericsson, said they were aiming to
boost take-up of the new technology by agreeing to license their patents on fair
and reasonable terms.
LTE promises to make everything from mobile-video sharing to
music downloads speedier, but it may not show a visible boost in sales for the
network equipment industry any time soon as the first networks are not expected
for two years and many operators will wait longer until the technology matures.
"Today’s announcement is a step towards establishing more
predictable and transparent licensing costs in a manner that enables faster
adoption of new technologies," Ilkka Rahnasto, head of Nokia’s intellectual
property rights said in a statement.
The companies have committed to keeping royalty levels for
essential LTE patents in handsets below 10 percent of the sale price, with the
maximum royalty in LTE-enabled notebooks staying below $10.
The group also included Alcatel-Lucent, NEC Corp, NextWave
Wireless, Nokia Siemens Networks and Sony Ericsson.
Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 US mobile service, has decided to
build out an LTE network, while China Mobile, the world’s biggest mobile
provider, said earlier this year it would test LTE.
Alcatel-Lucent and Japan’s NEC signed a joint-venture deal to pool their
development and marketing of the technology. Even Qualcomm Inc has promised
chips for LTE, a competitor to its own Ultra Mobile Broadband technology.
—Reuters
