QUALCOMM Incorporated announced on 25 September ’06 that QUALCOMM and HFCL have signed a commercial CDMA2000 subscriber unit and modem card license agreement. Under the terms of the worldwide, royalty-bearing agreement, QUALCOMM has granted HFCL, QUALCOMM’s first licensee in India, a patent license to develop, manufacture and sell CDMA2000 subscriber units and modem card products. The royalties payable by HFCL are at QUALCOMM’s standard worldwide rates.
“There are currently more than 36 million CDMA subscribers in India and the Indian wireless market has grown ten-fold in less than five years,” said Mr. Mahendra Nahata, Chairman, HFCL Group. “As the Indian market continues to grow, we believe there will be an increasing demand for more advanced, affordable CDMA2000 wireless devices and this license agreement from QUALCOMM, the leader in CDMA technologies, will be a key factor in enabling us to meet this demand. It will also be an important milestone for HFCL to establish a leadership position with CDMA wireless devices in India, as we believe the production of these devices will open up a significant addressable market opportunity for our company.”
HFCL, based in New Delhi, is one of the largest private sector companies in India focused on telecom. QUALCOMM Incorporated is one of the leaders in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies.