Huawei agrees to pay Nokia for patents in multi-year license deal
One of the biggest patent holders in the mobile space is still Nokia, and this was confirmed once more today. Following similar deals it made in the past with the likes of Apple, Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi, the Finnish company has announced that it has agreed to license its patents to Huawei.
It's a multi-year deal with the Chinese smartphone maker, but no financial details have been provided yet. Nokia did tell its investors that it expects to start booking revenue off of this agreement, including a one-off catch-up payment, by the end of this year. An analyst speculates that Huawei's payments may be around 100 million per year. Interestingly, Huawei is one of Nokia's biggest competitors in the telecom network equipment business - which is where more than 90% of Nokia's revenue comes from.
Among other things, Nokia's patent catalog covers technology that conserves battery life, improves radio reception, and reduces the need for separate hardware components in phones. The patent licensing division is highly profitable and should help Nokia somewhat alleviate an industry-wide slump in the network business.