Huawei agrees to pay Nokia for patents in multi-year license deal
One of the biggest
patent holders in the mobile space is still Nokia, and this was confirmed once more
today. Following similar deals it made in the past with the likes of Apple,
Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi, the Finnish company has announced that it has agreed
to license its patents to Huawei.
It's a multi-year
deal with the Chinese smartphone maker, but no financial details have been
provided yet. Nokia did tell its investors that it expects to start booking
revenue off of this agreement, including a one-off catch-up payment, by the end
of this year. An analyst speculates that Huawei's payments may be around €100
million per year. Interestingly, Huawei is one of Nokia's biggest competitors
in the telecom network equipment business - which is where more than 90% of
Nokia's revenue comes from.
Among other things,
Nokia's patent catalog covers technology that conserves battery life, improves
radio reception, and reduces the need for separate hardware components in
phones. The patent licensing division is highly profitable and should help
Nokia somewhat alleviate an industry-wide slump in the network business.
Source: gsmarena