« Wee-Fi: Minneapolis Wi-Fi Bridge Response Details, Meraki Write-Up, Wireless Silicon Valley Costs | Main | Wee-Fi: Editorializing on 700 MHz and EarthLink, White Space Failure, Clearwire Boost »

August 6, 2007

Qualcomm 3G Chip Ban Will Take Effect

By Glenn Fleishman

The Bush Administration declined to use its veto to overturn a trade ruling that will prohibit the import of cell phones and devices that use Qualcomm third-generation (3G) chipsets: The ruling, in which Broadcom’s claims of patent violation were found to have merit, prohibits the importation of any model of device that wasn’t already being imported before June 7.

Verizon sidestepped the matter by agreeing on a fee schedule with Broadcom, that included Verizon withdrawing its support for Qualcomm’s lobbying and legal efforts. Verizon will pay Broadcom $6 per phone with the infringing chips, up to $40m per quarter and up to $200m overall. A drop in the bucket if they have advanced phones that their competitors don’t, such as the new Blackberry with Wi-Fi that AT&T planned to introduce this month. I do not know if that Blackberry model would be covered under the ban, but it’s possible. (GSM 3G chips have a number of suppliers, as opposed to Qualcomm’s control of CDMA, a standard they invented.)

Qualcomm has another tool, however; it immediately announced that it would ask a federal court for an injunction now that the US Trade Representative, to whom Pres. Bush had delegated this particular veto power, has opted against intervening. A previous attempt at an injunction was turned down by the Federal District Court on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction until that decision had been made.

Posted by Glennf at August 6, 2007 3:56 PM

Categories: 2.5G and 3G, Financial, Regulation

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://db.isbn.nu/mt3/mt-tb.pl/4739

Comments

Post a comment