China’s hot and cold reaction to Qualcomm Inc.’s Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless telecommunications technology appears to be in a warming trend , particularly over the last week.
The nation’s No. 2 mobile telecommunications provider, China United Telecom Corp., confirmed Oct. 19 that it plans to build a CDMA network. This is according to published reports that said the network could serve up to 10 million subscribers.
That announcement came after an Oct. 16 demonstration in Beijing of a phone model that uses both CDMA and one of its rival technologies, Global Standard for Mobile Communications. Qualcomm Chairman and CEO Irwin Jacobs participated in the demonstration.
Qualcomm stock, which has ridden up and down in the $70-to-$82 range in the past month, closed up 10 percent on Oct. 16, going from $69.94 to $77 per share. It closed in the $74 range for two days, then closed at $77 Oct. 19.
A Qualcomm spokeswoman declined comment on reports that the China news could increase the company’s earnings.
In May, the Chinese telecommunications company, known as China Unicom, said it would not adopt CDMA.
This came after China Unicom and Qualcomm signed an agreement in February, setting guidelines for the commercial manufacturing of CDMA telecommunications equipment.
About a dozen Chinese manufacturers now have research and development agreements with Qualcomm for CDMA equipment, said Qualcomm spokeswoman Christine Trimble. Those manufacturers will need commercial licenses to bring the items to market. So far, Qualcomm has not issued those in China, she said.
Trimble said last week there has not been a definitive announcement on when CDMA will be rolled out in China. “We’re hopeful it will be soon,” she said.
China Unicom joined the Orange County-based CDMA Development Group as well as Zhongxing Telecom Equipment Co. and “smart card” developer Gemplus at a Beijing press conference Oct. 16.
There the groups showed off what the California trade organization called the world’s first-ever CDMA-GSM interoperable Subscriber Identity Module card, and compatible handsets. Trimble said the device operates on either CDMA or GSM networks.
Representatives of China Unicom and equipment manufacturers made “positive comments” then about CDMA’s deployment in China, Trimble said.
In a separate development, Qualcomm announced last week it would be a shareholder and limited partner in Bethesda, Md.-based SkyBridge LP.
SkyBridge has plans to provide telecommunications links via 80 low earth orbiting satellites.
