Samsung Electronics, the world’s second-largest mobile handset maker, said Thursday it has signed a revised patent deal with Qualcomm, the world’s largest provider of wireless chipset technology, to exchange rights to use each other’s wireless technologies.

Samsung will pay US$1.3 billion in advance to Qualcomm for using the U.S. chipmaker’s licenses in wireless technology including code division multiple access (CDMA) for the next 15 years, the Korean company said in a regulatory filing.

Samsung will also grant Qualcomm the right to use Samsung’s 57 patent licenses in mobile technology, it said. But it declined to provide the number of the licenses transferred from Qualcomm to Samsung.

Samsung said it will not be paid by Qualcomm because of the higher value of Qualcomm’s licenses.

The technology in the cross-licensing deal includes fourth-generation wireless technology used in handset devices and base stations, Samsung said.

Qualcomm owns key patents for CDMA, the most widely used wireless network standard in the world.

South Korea is one of major markets for Qualcomm as it is a home to the world’s No. 2 and No. 3 handset makers, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

“The new deal is a better one for Samsung,” a Samsung spokesman said.

In July, South Korea’s antitrust watchdog slapped Qualcomm with US$208 million in fines for violating the nation’s fair competition rules by abusing its monopoly over the mobile handset chip market.

YonhapNewsAgency

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