InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[mschere]

OLD SIEMENS/China/TDSCDMA news..

Siemens completes China restructuring

German technology giant Siemens will shortly take control of Beijing International Switching Systems, its telecoms network equipment joint venture with Beijing Enterprises, a conglomerate under the control of the Beijing Municipal Government. Siemens will pay US$24 million to raise its stake in the company from the current 40 percent to 60 percent. Beijing Enterprises will see its stake drop from 40 percent to 20 percent while the remaining 20 percent is jointly held by three other Chinese companies. A spokesperson for Siemens explained that the deal marks the last stage of the company's reorganisation of its China telecoms joint ventures intended to facilitate expansion. The reorganisation has seen the German company gradually take a controlling stake in each of its four Chinese telecoms joint ventures. In total the company has more than 40 joint ventures in China in different sectors.

Beijing International Switching Systems was Siemens first telecoms joint venture in China set up in 1990 but has been hit in recent years by the cutbacks in infrastructure spending by the country's telecoms operators. The reorganisation of Siemens telecoms joint ventures is particularly aimed towards third generation mobile technologies. The company has set up a 51:49 joint venture with Chinese telecoms maker Huawei to work on products for the indigenous Chinese TD-SCDMA technology. It has also invested US$30 million in Siemens Shanghai Mobile Communications to expand production of WCDMA technologies.