Qualcomm has signed MoUs with four Chinese mobile vendors - a deal worth around $2 billion over three years – who have expressed interest in Qualcomm’s RF Front End (RFFE) components, designed to enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to rapidly build mobile devices at scale for easy global expansion.
Qualcomm announced that the European Commission and the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) have authorized the acquisition of NXP Semiconductors. The acquisition has now received 8 of the 9 approvals around the world, with China remaining.
Qualcomm released a statement on January 24 confirming it will appeal a massive fine imposed by the European Commission for alleged market dominance abuse. Earlier that day, the European Commission said in a statement it had decided to fine Qualcomm €997 million ($1.2 billion) for payments it made to Apple in order to secure its leading market position for LTE baseband chipsets.
Ericsson has further extended its partnership with U Mobile Sdn Bhd to transform the Malaysian telecommunications service provider’s Business Support System (BSS) into an industrialized, real-time converged environment.
The 3GPP TSG RAN Plenary Meeting in Lisbon successfully completed the first implementable 5G NR specification on December 21. Global telecom players, including operators, vendors, and manufacturers, made a statement that the completion of the first 5G New Radio (5G NR) standard has set the stage for the global mobile industry to start full-scale development of 5G NR for large-scale trials and commercial deployments as early as in 2019.
In a letter to stockholders ahead of its 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on March 6, Qualcomm highlighted details of a $1 billion strategy which aims to generate “significant value” for investors in the near term, in the wake of Broadcom making moves to acquire Qualcomm, which the company has labeled “opportunistic” and “aggressive”.
Finnish telecommunications colossus Nokia has announced that it has sealed a major deal to supply 5G base stations to Japan’s largest mobile operator NTT Docomo. The agreement represents the vendor’s first large-scale 5G contract since the first formal 5G New Radio (NR) standard was established and subsequently approved in last month.
Four telecom operators in Bangladesh have applied to partake in a 4G auction in February, the Daily Star reported. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) was given the green light to proceed with the auction, after the Bangladesh Supreme Court halted it.
A number of politicians in the Philippines have expressed their concern over the threat to national security posed by a potential deal involving Chinese telecommunications operator China Telecom.
Ericsson released a statement on January 16 noting that it will book SEK 14.2 billion (US$ 1.77 billion) in write-downs in its Q4 2017 financial results. The write-downs, Ericsson said, are related to the company’s Digital Services and Other divisions, in addition to an SEK 1 billion charge related to tax changes in the United States.
