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Mobile big guns back LTE as next-gen network
Step towards "fairer" licensing?

By Erica Ogg

Published: Tuesday 15 April 2008

Several companies yesterday agreed to sign their names to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) framework for the next generation of wireless technology.

The largest handset maker in the world, Nokia, was joined by Alcatel-Lucent, NEC, NextWave Wireless and Sony Ericsson. Part of the agreement on LTE means the companies will agree to licence their patents "on fair and reasonable terms", which means keeping royalties for handset patents below 10 per cent of the handset sale price.

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Nokia's Ilkka Rahnasto said in a statement: "Today's announcement is a step towards establishing more predictable and transparent licensing costs in a manner that enables faster adoption of new technologies."

These five are only the latest to join as the emerging LTE technology gains momentum. In November at the Mobile Asia Congress in Macau, the GSM Association threw its support behind LTE. A few weeks later, Verizon Wireless, the number two wireless operator in the US, said it would use LTE for its 4G wireless network. AT&T, the largest mobile operator in the US, also has indicated it will use LTE.