MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip designer, yesterday said it had inked a licensing agreement with Japan’s biggest telecom operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc, to develop chips supporting 4G telecom technology.
The partnership paves the way for MediaTek to provide new 4G solutions for customers in Japan and elsewhere after integrating NTT DoCoMo’s long-term evolution (LTE) technology with its 2G and 3G technologies, a company statement released yesterday said.
MediaTek is also developing chips supporting WiMAX technology, a rival technology to LTE.
“MediaTek has earned a market-leading reputation in the 2G era. We will continue to innovate from 2G into 3G and 3G into LTE,” company chairman Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介) said in the statement.
MediaTek aims to ship 450 million handset chips this year, mostly 2G and 2.75G solutions. The firm shipped most of its handset chips to China and emerging markets.
“This licensing agreement will not only enable MediaTek to offer a globally interoperable LTE mobile platform but also allows us to provide our customers and partners with ... a smooth transition from 3G to 4G and beyond,” Tsai said.
To optimize and boost adoption of MediaTek’s LTE mobile phone platform by Japanese mobile phone manufacturers, MediaTek said it planned to provide inter-operability testing services with DoCoMo in Japan.
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