Replies to post #20108 on Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[Data_Rox]

not sure Q wanted this cat out of the bag yet...

Sprint using Qualcomm patch to workaround ITC ban
Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:34pm ET

CORRECTED - Sprint using Qualcomm patch to workaround ITC ban
Sprint using Qualcomm patch to workaround ITC ban

NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp. (S.N: Quote, Profile , Research) is using a software patch from Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile , Research) to get around a recently issued U.S. government agency ban on new phones with Qualcomm chips, an executive for Sprint said on Monday.

The International Trade Commission on June 7 banned the import of new high-speed wireless phones containing Qualcomm chips that the ITC said infringed a patent owned by Broadcom Corp. (BRCM.O: Quote, Profile , Research). The ban exempts phones already being imported.

Because Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. wireless service, depends on devices with Qualcomm chips for virtually all its phones with high-speed Web links, analysts had said it could be prevented from launching new phone models as a result of the ban.

But Sprint product manager Brita Horton said in an interview that the company would be unaffected by the ban and can bring out as many new devices as it wants this year as a result of a software update it received from Qualcomm.

"Qualcomm gave us a software patch that ... lets us keep shipping," said Horton, who noted that while the software patch creates extra work for Sprint, it would not increase costs.

Qualcomm has said it was looking at possibilities for a technical way to get around the ban, but had noted that a work-around would not be a guaranteed solution as it requires the agreement of carriers and phone makers to be usable.

It said it is not focusing on reversing the ban through an appeals court and a presidential veto.

Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service in terms of subscribers, has spoken out against the ban and said it would ask U.S. President George W. Bush to veto it. Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.N: Quote, Profile , Research) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Quote, Profile , Research), uses the same wireless technology as Sprint.

Qualcomm is the dominant supplier of chips for EV-DO, the high-speed wireless technology used by Sprint and Verizon Wireless.


© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.