Motorola, Qualcomm Plan UMTS Collaboration

By Colleen Taylor -- Electronic News, 11/13/2006

Telecom heavyweights Motorola Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. today announced plans to expand their collaborative relationship. In addition to collaborating on CDMA2000, the two companies will now be working together to bring UMTS handsets to global markets. Motorola Mobile Devices has approved Qualcomm's Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipsets for incorporation into future UMTS handset designs.

"By expanding our relationship to include UMTS designs, we are opening the door to new avenues for growth and value creation," Ron Garriques, president of Motorola's Mobile Devices business, said in a statement. "With Qualcomm now included among our partners for UMTS, we are enhancing our flexibility and expanding our range of options in our drive to design and deliver the world's most innovative and compelling UMTS handsets across experiences and price tiers."

"Motorola has been an important customer for Qualcomm for many years, and we are excited with this latest development in our relationship to now include collaboration on UMTS," Sanjay K. Jha, president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, said in a statement.

In September, Qualcomm and Continental AG, a global automotive supplier, entered into a CDMA2000 telematics module license agreement.