Qualcomm Inc. said on Dec. 26 that it has reached a license agreement with a large Chinese electronics manufacturer. With the move, Qualcomm has license agreements with all of the top 10 Chinese players.
The San Diego company announced that it has struck a patent license deal with Gionee Communication Equipment Co. Ltd. Gionee targets markets in Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. The company, founded in 2002, sells more than a million handsets yearly.
The new license agreement follows terms of the deal Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) struck with Chinese regulators in early 2015.
One of Qualcomm’s main revenue sources is the fees it charges to license its large portfolio of wireless telecommunications technology. In late 2013, the Chinese government alleged that Qualcomm engaged in anticompetitive practices when the company set its licensing terms for China. The San Diego tech company entered negotiations with the government, and in the end, Qualcomm paid a $975 million fine and agreed to a new schedule of license terms for Chinese vendors. Qualcomm has since been signing Chinese companies to the new terms, and collecting “catch up” payments from some device makers who hesitated paying their royalty fees.
The new license with Gionee covers third- and fourth-generation wireless communication technology, including a unique Chinese “three-mode” technology.
