The insiders believe that China should take advantage of TD-SCDMA's dominant position in WCDMA and CDMA2000 negotiations. In fact, this is not sensational. Previously, ROAGroup, a Korean high-tech research company, published a research report predicting that Korean manufacturers of WCDMA standard 3 G mobile phones would pay a patent fee equivalent to 20% of the mobile phone price.
ROAGroup predicted the unfavorable situation of Korean manufacturers in the field of WCDMA mobile phones, and 99% of WCDMA mobile phones are held by foreign companies because of 400 technology-related patents.
According to the report, patents have always been a major problem in China's telecom industry, especially in the mobile phone industry. In 2 G, due to the agreement of GSM Association, China manufacturers can waive the patent fee for the sale of locally produced GSM mobile phones. Therefore, patents hinder the export of major mobile phone manufacturers in China, and the production and sales of GSM/GPRS mobile phones of China mobile phone manufacturers are less affected. In the field of CDMA mobile phones, China manufacturers have to pay high patent fees to Qualcomm and other patent owners, resulting in generally low profit margins of CDMA mobile phone manufacturers.
It is reported that in order to reduce the patent burden, Korean mobile phone manufacturers even decided to draw a "WCDMA patent map" before March this year and provide consulting services to Korean mobile phone manufacturers.
In China, led by the Institute of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Information Industry, relevant enterprises have been organized to hold several rounds of negotiations with companies such as Qualcomm, but all failed.
According to the insiders, it is very correct for China to take the lead in building a TD-SCDMA trial network, otherwise entering the WCDMA camp will be tantamount to falling into the patent trap and being unable to extricate itself. At the same time, however, China should step up patent negotiations to make better countermeasures. At present, if Chinese and foreign enterprises charge for a patent, it will be extremely unfavorable for China, because even in the 2 G era, if the patents of domestic manufacturers and GSM companies are reduced one by one, the patent fee can exceed 20%.