Qualcomm inks OFDM deal, bolsters IP claim

Qualcomm may have gained another small weapon for what could become a huge battle over essential patents on next-generation wireless networks.

In a deal announced Monday, Qualcomm agreed to license its OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) and OFDMA (OFDM Access) technology to 4G Systems, a Hamburg, Germany, manufacturer of broadband wireless products.

Last year, Qualcomm signed its first OFDM/OFDMA license agreement with Soma Networks.

The deals come as the company moves to create a healthy portfolio of vendors with royalty-bearing license agreements for OFDM/OFDMA and bolster its arguments that it possesses essential patents for the technology. OFDM forms the basis of the next-generation WiMax and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) wireless network technologies.

Qualcomm Executive Vice President and Group President Len Lauer, speaking at a conference last week, warned backers of WiMax technology to expect IP claims from multiple companies.

It would be “absurd” to believe, he said, that there will be no “IP tax,” referring to the cost of licensing patented intellectual property, a common expense in 3G and other existing wireless technologies.

Qualcomm has been at odds with several vendors over patent issues.

The company is engulfed with Nokia in a patent licensing dispute over CDMA technology, which is used in high-speed mobile networks.

Battles with Qualcomm over IP in the 3G market were the original motivation for vendors to choose OFDM-based technologies for 4G (fourth-generation) networks and loosen the U.S. company’s hold on the mobile sector. But Qualcomm’s acquisition of Flarion Technologies has given it essential IP in all 4G technologies, according to wireless research director Stuart Carlow at ABI Research.

More acquisitions are likely to follow from Qualcomm as well as other large vendors, including Intel, Samsung, and Motorola, which want to have a say in determining IP costs, according to Robert Syputa, senior analyst at Maravedis.

(Stephen Lawson in San Francisco contributed to this article.)