Femtocells

New reports are coming out about femtocells and if some are to be believed these little base stations could rock the mobile world - this time in favour of the mobile operators. Of course we get such claims about new technology all the time. But analysts really seem intrigued at the possibilities of femtos. Many hurdles have yet to be overcome - eg not least to find out how operators would implement millions of these things into their networks, plus work out the best business case. But trials are quietly going on and the predictions are that we will see limited rollouts late this year or early next year. Personally I can't wait: I have terrible mobile reception where I live and would benefit hugely from having my own indoor base station. I'd even pay for it.

Qualcomm v Nokia

So as it appeared Nokia had unilaterally decided on an amount to pay Qualcomm. Qualcomm is now seeking arbitration to force Nokia to recognise that it is continuing with its old agreement to pay the San Diego company royalties for using CDMA payments. This case ain't going to be resolved any time soon. Next move: Nokia.

Nokia and Qualcomm

It's 9 April on Monday - for some it's just another Easter Monday but for Qualcomm and Nokia it's when their existing agreement on CDMA royalty payments comes to an end. Negotiations seem to have got messy, with Paul Jacobs saying at 3GSM that the parties were fairly far apart and looked unlikely to come to an agreement before the expiry date. Meanwhile Nokia said today that it has paid Qualcomm US$20 million for patent licences covering Q2 2007, but it's not clear if this sum has been agreed with Qualcomm or not. Nokia made it clear that the payment is not related to the old agreement. I haven't had any comments back from Qualcomm about this as yet...apparently once San Diego wakes up today there may be some reaction.

Nokia Siemens Networks

So the coming together of Nokia Networks with the carrier networks business of Siemens finally came to pass on 1 April. The company has certainly kept up the momentum this week with various press announcements: after confirming the merger was now effective NSN also said it would support the MVNO operation of Blyk in the UK, and has formed a WiMAX alliance with Pipex to support service rollout also in the UK market. It must be a relief to NSN to finally be able to reveal concrete deals and plans. A more nervous set of executives at the 3GSM press conference in February I have yet to see...!