BEIJING -- STMicroelectronics has signed a license agreement with China's Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co. Ltd. for know-how and intellectual property rights (IPR) in the field of TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access). TD-SCDMA is one of the 3G wireless interface specifications adopted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and expected to be used in China.
ST is to use the know-how to develop mobile multimedia multimode TD-SCDMA/GPRS System-on-Chip (SoC) products.
The SoC devices are to be developed for the Chinese market first, to make use of the recent 155-Hz time division duplex spectrum allocations in China (see November 1 2002 story ). In the future TD-SCDMA could be used in other locations as there are already allocated frequency bands for TDD in other parts of the world, ST said.
ST's licensing of TD-SCDMA technology follows other recent initiatives such as the development of a W-CDMA platform and 3G protocol stacks, and the recently announced OMAPI multimedia application processor interface standard (see December 12 2002 story).
Product development is to be co-ordinated between ST's regional R&D centers in Singapore and Beijing and other product design and manufacturing groups worldwide.
ST said in a press statement that Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Inc. is the proprietor of the TD-SCDMA intellectual property rights. However, Siemens AG in particular and Nortel and Alcatel proposed a TD-SCDMA scheme for adoption in Europe in the mid-1990s and Qualcomm claims to hold key patents relevant to all forms of code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless technology. Siemens is a strategic partner of Datang's and has helped the company develop the technology and lobby for its adoption in China.
The strength of TD-SCDMA technology and its family is its ability to offer network operators a progressive and seamless transformation from the existing 2G network towards one capable of delivering 3G services reusing existing transmission links. Advanced features such as code division multiple access, smart antennae, mutual synchronization between mobile and base stations and joint detection, all of which can now be physically realized using advanced silicon processes, allow the efficiency of spectrum usage to be three to five times higher than that of conventional GSM.
ST is not without rivals in the TD-SCDMA market. Datang formed a company called Commit with Nokia, TI, LG, Putian, DBTel and other companies in January 2002, to make TD-SCDMA chips. In December 2002, Datang signed an agreement to form a joint company with Philips and Samsung.
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