The International Telecommunication Union said it may look for a way to work around the
intellectual-property-right stalemate caused by Qualcomm Inc. and L.M. Ericsson over third-generation
technology.
Fabio Leite, counselor in the Radiocommunications Bureau of Geneva-based ITU, said for now Code
Division Multiple Access proposals that have unresolved IPR issues attached are dropped from the standards process.
At the same time, ITU is working out a way to proceed without disrupting time frames it has set to decide on 3G
technology.
“Our main worry is that we don’t want to affect the aggressive schedule we have for this
year,” said Leite. “The next deadline is March of this year. At a meeting in Brazil, a selection of technology
will have to be taken … We want to give free hands to technical experts in such a way that they can at least do the
technical work without being affected by IPR. We still don’t know how this can be done.
We’re going to consult
with [Qualcomm and Ericsson].”
ITU, the international standards-setting body, issued a warning last month
that it may only be able to consider proposals for third-generation technologies based on Time Division Multiple
Access technology if the disputes surrounding IPR of CDMA proposals were not resolved by the end of the year. ITU
patent policy requires this.
Now it appears the ITU may be softening its position as pressure mounts from members
to keep pushing ahead.
“There’s a large number of other members of the industry that are willing to negotiate
their patents,” said Leite. “It’s encouraging that many operators want to see the ITU work continue on a
normal basis. We’re taking into account these elements to see what can be done. The last three weeks of January will be
crucial, and we’ll meet to decide what can be done.”
Leite also said members can change the way patent
policy is applied to the 3G process. But the ITU will not determine the validity of any IPR claims, said Leite. 3G
technology promises consumers Internet-friendly handsets, high data speeds and full-motion video service in the 21st
century.
Today’s IPR stalemate within the ITU turns on a push for convergence of the two leading CDMA
proposals, wideband CDMA and cdma2000. Qualcomm wants to converge cdma2000-a cdmaOne backward-
compatible proposal backed by U.S. cdmaOne operators-with GSM-based W-CDMA, a technology submitted by
Europe and Japan. San Diego-based Qualcomm said it will not grant patents unless convergence is achieved, which
includes meeting three fairness principles it created.
Sweden-based Ericsson has stated it holds patents essential to
both W-CDMA and cdma2000 technologies and is not prepared to offer licenses if another company refuses full
reciprocity globally. It wants each country to be allowed to choose which technology to deploy.
“We support
all the standards,” said John Giere, vice president for public affairs with Ericsson Inc. in New York. “A
converged standard is a new-born idea. That gets tricky.”
About 16 variations of CDMA technology and
TDMA-based proposals were submitted by standards bodies and various entities to the ITU in June. Convergence
discussions between carriers and vendors from around the world since early last year have not resulted in any agreed-
upon compromise. Political and technical issues continually stand in the way, say industry experts.
But as the clock
ticks away at the ITU, vendors say carriers worldwide increasingly are pressuring them to resolve the IPR standstill.
Japan’s NTT DoCoMo is expected to be the first operator to commercially deploy a W-CDMA system using Ericsson
and other vendors by 2002 to relieve network capacity constraints.
“DoCoMo has visited us for the last couple
of months,” said Giere. “They are eager to figure out how to move forward. The carrier has an urgent need
to move forward.”
Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group in Los Angeles-a
group representing cdmaOne carriers and vendors-said various proposals are on the table today, but the cdmaOne camp
needs to keep the chip rate at 3.68 Megachips per second to remain backward compatible with second-generation
systems. W-CDMA backers want to keep a higher chip rate.
Keith Paglusch, senior vice president of technical
services and network operations with cdmaOne operator Sprint PCS, will head to China along with other CDG
members to discuss convergence with carriers and commercialization of cdmaOne in China, which to date has not been
allowed. Chinese delegates are in charge of consensus building within the ITU.
Meanwhile, several of Qualcomm’s
cdmaOne patents are under attack in Europe, where the European Patent Office early last month orally revoked a patent
Qualcomm received in 1996. Qualcomm said the patent applies to techniques used to increase capacity in cdmaOne
systems. Motorola Inc. was successful in opposing the patent.
Once a written decision is handed down, Qualcomm
said it will appeal the decision, a process that could take 18 months.
