Qualcomm: 'We'd consider Nokia venture and WiMax buy'

While the acrimonious patent negotiations between Nokia and Qualcomm trundle on, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs believes the pair could yet work together on new business.

Today at ITU Telecom World in Hong Kong, Jacobs said it may be one way to resolve the patent discussion deadlock.

He said: "The negotiating team, from our point of view, are involved in a zero-sum game. You can imagine we're not going to get very far until there's some external pressure," such as approaching deadlines or judicial interference.

Jacobs added he'd like to see "more of a win-win", potentially involving Nokia and Qualcomm undertaking new business. "It's a hard thing to do... you need a lot of trust and we have a long history of fighting. That might be too strong a word but it might not - certainly 'competing vigorously'."

The Qualcomm boss added that other factors would come into play for a tie-up to work. "There's also the question of timing," he said. "Building new business has to be near-term enough to be interesting to both parties. It's not a high probability path but it's certainly one worth exploring. Peace is better than continued fighting."

The patent spat, which has seen Qualcomm sue Nokia in the US and the UK and Nokia also get litigious, relates to GSM patents set to expire in April. To date the two companies have been locked in stalemate.

As well as potentially getting into bed with Nokia, Jacobs suggested if it became necessary the company may make an acquisition in the field of WiMax - a technology Qualcomm has previously branded as inferior to 3G.

While its stance on WiMax remains the same - "it doesn't work very well in the mobile environment", according to Jacobs - the Qualcomm head said if operators ask the company to support WiMax, it will do so.

He said: "If it turns out to be a popular technology and if operators want us to support it, we will do." In that case Qualcomm will consider acquisition, partnership or internal development as strategies.

Opinions on WiMax are divided. A recent report from Juniper Research predicts the number of mobile WiMax subscribers will top 21 million by 2012 - rising from 1.7 million next year. A separate report from Strategy Analytics predicts that HSPA will be the dominant mobile broadband technology for some years to come.

In related news, earlier this week Qualcomm acquired Airgo, a pioneer in Mimo (multiple input, multiple output) technology.