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China is making a significant global impact in the wireless communication market, showing strong momentum in the global wireless industry chain. In an exclusive interview with China Daily, US-based Qualcomm Inc's Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Irwin Jacobs shares his vision for the wireless industry:
Q: Qualcomm has been aggressively pushing forward third generation (3G) mobile communication technology in China. What real benefits will 3G bring to different stake holders including customers, telecom carriers, equipment vendors, content providers, etc?
A: Globally, the transition to 3G is well underway with over 171 million 3G CDMA (code division multiple access) users around the world.
This exciting growth has benefited everyone in the CDMA wireless value chain, from equipment manufacturers, network operators, application publishers and developers, to consumers and business users.
3G is not just a technology vision - it is today a growing global success that is changing the wireless experience for consumers, businesses and governments across the world. The mobile handset will soon become the only computer consumers may need. With 3G, wireless consumers are able to use their handsets to capture video, monitor kids from a remote place, download movie trailers, find a place to dine, watch football games, access e-mail, get traffic updates and even check their blood pressure.
In addition, 3G enables mobile carriers to provide innovative data applications and rich multimedia to large numbers of consumers cost-effectively. This is already realized in 66 countries where carriers have improved their competitive position, increased their subscriber base or enhanced revenue streams since the deployment of 3G CDMA 1X, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, and WCDMA (Wideband CDMA).
Equipment manufacturers will also gain more by providing upgraded equipment to carriers and attractive handsets to customers. In the 3G era, application and content development has become an emerging and increasingly important industry. 3D gaming, location-based services, healthcare consulting, e-government, rural and urban education, remote monitoring and various enterprise applications will all bring content developers rich returns.
We see a win-win situation in the 3G era where everyone in the wireless value chain benefits from this new and powerful technology.
Q: We know that chipset division is contributing the most revenue to Qualcomm, looking forward, will hardware continue to be the major revenue contributor?
A: Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT), the chipset and software solution division of Qualcomm, continues to be a key growth driver for the company.
We continue to make major investments in voice technology, and in particular wireless Voice over Internet Protocol, and have provided key leadership in achieving highly efficient, high speed wireless data.
We are making significant R&D investments in developing chipsets and software and in supporting manufacturers and operators.
As we look to the future, Qualcomm will continue to enable the future of communications and multimedia by focusing on new innovations in hardware and software. CDMA2000 1X EV-DO Revision A, HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) and MediaFLO are just a few recent innovations we have introduced to drive our growth and the growth of our partners.
Q: Chinese culture is quite different from western culture, have you met any obstacles in doing business in China?
A: We appreciate that Chinese culture is different in several ways from western culture, although there are also strong similarities, for example, in the great value given to family and education.
We have a growing staff in China to help us avoid or overcome obstacles due to culture and different backgrounds.
Q: Many Chinese have a negative attitude towards Qualcomm's royalty fee collection business model. How do you help Chinese people accept Qualcomm's business model?
A: It is certainly possible to focus narrowly on the royalty component of our business (and of many others), but we have been careful to make the royalty a small cost of the business and to provide great value through strong R&D and support to our over 100 licensees. Protection of intellectual property is important in providing motivation to individuals and companies to innovate and not to just perform in the same old way.
I am certain that China with its rapidly growing base of trained engineers will benefit greatly from the protection of intellectual property and the resulting positive impact on its economy.
Q: How does Qualcomm value its partnership in China?
A: In China, enabling the growth of our partners has been Qualcomm's core tenet. We truly believe our success lies in our partners' success. We are very happy to see that the wireless industry chain, which now includes China Unicom, equipment manufacturers, handset vendors and content providers, are experiencing rapid growth. We recently received ZTE's "Best Global Partner" award for the third consecutive year.
Over the years, our local partners have come to better understand Qualcomm's business model, which focuses on enabling positive business change for all players in the wireless industry. Protecting intellectual property and innovation will fuel the development of the Chinese economy. China is on the cusp of a significant opportunity to become a global player in mobile communications. As part of our long-term partnership with China, Qualcomm continues to strongly support the growth of Chinese companies and the lowering of cost and the increase in capabilities of 3G CDMA networks, devices and applications.
(China Daily May 17, 2005)
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