Verizon Wireless president and CEO Lowell McAdam indicated that the carrier was looking into "opportunities to mitigate" the costs associated with its recent deal with Broadcom, which may include some recuperation of costs from Qualcomm. "I will be looking for opportunities to mitigate [the fees] with other parties involved, and that's all I can really say about that right now," McAdam said in response to an analyst's question. "Other parties involved?" Sounds like Qualcomm since, as one analyst put it, they were the ones that allegedly infringed on Broadcom's patents, not Verizon Wireless. We will have to wait and see.
McAdam reiterated that the deal with Broadcom has not forced the carrier to rethink its relationship with Qualcomm: "This does not affect our 4G plans and we still have a strong relationship with Qualcomm. That [relationship] will evolve as technology evolves, but this does not have a major impact there," he said.
Qualcomm got some more bad news on Friday when a federal court dismissed the chip maker's request to delay the ITC's import ban. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it did not have jurisdiction to consider Qualcomm's request, because the import limits are still under review by the Bush administration. The administration has until August 6 to decide whether to veto the ITC's decision.
McAdam said that no matter how the President rules, Verizon Wireless is now in a stable place and neither a failed veto attempt nor other ongoing patent disputes between Broadcom and Qualcomm can hurt its business. "The important thing here is that for a fee of $200 million we did not want to have the uncertainty for our business or for our customers," McAdam said.
For more on the deal:
- tune into this webcast [1]
Links:
[1] http://investor.verizon.com/news/20070723/