Ericsson sells mobile technology licence to Samsung

STOCKHOLM: Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson said in a statement on

Friday it sold a licence for its second (2G) and third (3G) generation mobile

technology to Korea's Samsung.

"Under the terms of a worldwide, royalty-bearing agreement, Ericsson has

granted Samsung a non-exclusive license under Ericsson's patent portfolio for

the GSM, TDMA, GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA mobile telephony standards, to develop,

manufacture and sell 2G and 3G subscriber and infrastructure equipment,"

Ericsson said.

"In return, Samsung provides a royalty payment, as well as a reciprocal

license to Ericsson," it said.

Last year loss-making Ericsson, the world's biggest producer of mobile

networks and third biggest handset supplier, set up a separate company to sell

its technology to other companies in an effort to boost the sagging telecoms

equipment market.

(C) Reuters Limited.