Nokia announced yesterday at Broadband World Forum that its mobile equipment arm, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), has struck a patent licensing deal with Chinese rival Huawei. The agreement covers the worldwide use of all standards essential patents of all parties, including GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000, optical networking, datacom and WiMAX in mobile devices, infrastructure and services.
Nokia said that Huawei is the 35th company to license Nokia patents.
"As a newer player in the telecoms IPR environment, Nokia Siemens Networks see this as our most significant licensing agreement to date", said Gottfried Weidel, head of IPR at NSN. "It will help to create a more predictable business environment and further supports our goal of industry innovation."
Song Liuping, vice-president and chief legal officer at Huawei added that the deal would create a "harmonious environment" for the development of the telecom industry.
In a statement, Nokia said it has invested close to €35 billion in research and development since the early 1990s in developing its mobile IPR portfolio. Its current portfolio includes approximately 300 GSM, 370 WCDMA and 170 CDMA2000 declared essential patent families.
The deal between NSN and Huawei is the latest in a series of similar deals announced this year between rival firms aimed at creating a transparent method of dealing with royalty payments for patents in order to avoid the licensing disputes that have dogged adoption of previous generations of mobile technology.