Licensing deal supports LTE

April 16, 2016

Nokia, Sony Ericsson, NEC, Alacatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens Networks and NextWave Wireless have formed a licensing framework for their Long Term Evolution (LTE) patents, designed to support the new technology.

LTE is designed to fill the growing demand for mobile broadband, and is compatible with a range of technologies, including mobile phones and laptops.

The partnership is promoting the emerging mobile standard, which is also called 4G, as the successor to 3G. The US and China are already rolling out the first LTE networks.

LTE is faster and has a longer range than 3G, and is regarded as a direct competitor to Wimax, which is supported by Intel, and Ultra Mobile Broadband which Qualcomm is pushing.

Nokia and its industry partners have pledged that royalty payments for the use of essential LTE patents will not exceed 10 percent of the device cost