Datang Mobile Communications Equipment, a mainland third-generation mobile technology developer, insisted that it owns the core intellectual property right to the home-grown TD-SCDMA technology, refuting a similar claim by United States-based Qualcomm. Xie Yongbin, senior vice-president of Datang Mobile Communications Equipment, said yesterday the code division multiple access (CDMA) technology was a 'public concept' not exclusive to Qualcomm. 'It doesn't make sense to say that Qualcomm's CDMA is the same as ours,' Dr Xie said. He also said Qualcomm had not contacted Datang regarding the CDMA's patent issue over the past few years when it was developing the TD-SCDMA technology. The dispute arose after Qualcomm's senior vice-president Jing Wang last week said the company would have royalty rights on the upcoming TD-SCDMA's products once the service was commercially launched. Qualcomm was entitled to the rights because the mainland's TD-SCDMA was based on its CDMA technology, Mr Wang said. Meanwhile, Datang plans to launch an upgraded version of TD-SCDMA technology in 2010 that supports a download speed of 100 megabits per second. The company's network infrastructure in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Qingdao and Baoding would be used for TD-SCDMA commercial trials due to start in October, according to Dr Xie. Its network accounted for about 37 per cent of the total contracts granted by China Mobile Communications Corp, China Telecom and China Netcom in this round of trials, he said. 'The network construction for TD-SCDMA is smooth and there is no technical problem,' Dr Xie said. 'We are working on the upgraded version of TD-SCDMA and [aim] to launch the related products in 2010,' he added.
