Image of a girl holding a cell phone in front of the Huawei logo displayed on a pc screen. Canada on Thursday said it plans to ban the usage of China’s Huawei technologies and ZTE 5G equipment to protect national security, joining the remaining of its so-called Five Eyes intelligence sharing network.
Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty’s paintings
Chinese tech giant Huawei said on Friday it could license its 5G technology to rival cellphone maker Oppo because it looks to unlock a recent revenue stream after its smartphone business was crushed by US sanctions.
Huawei and Oppo, the world’s fourth-largest smartphone maker, have signed a “global patent cross-licensing agreement that covers fundamental patents on cellular standards, including 5G.”
Huawei has an enormous portfolio of over 100,000 patents worldwide. It’s certainly one of the leading patent holders in 5G technology, the next-generation ultra-fast mobile web, seen as key to supporting future industries reminiscent of artificial intelligence and autonomous cars.
When developing a recent generation of cellular technology, it’s needed to create the so-called global standards. These are the protocols, technical specifications and design that enable interoperability between 5G networks all over the world and permit smartphones to communicate with these networks.
Industry organizations are tasked with creating them, and corporations like Huawei will contribute to them. These corporations develop technologies which they then patent. Patents which are critical to standards, say 4G or 5G, will likely be considered a “Standard Essential Patent” or SEP.
Up to now, Huawei has not been aggressive in monetizing these patents compared to some rivals reminiscent of Nokia and Ericsson.
Nonetheless, in 2019, the US used a series of measures, including an export blacklist, to cut off Huawei from the critical semiconductors it needed for its smartphones and another products. This crushed the corporate’s smartphone business, which was primary on the planet on the time.
Last 12 months, the Chinese tech giant said it could start selling its technology to other corporations through patents.
The corporate previously said it expected revenue of between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion from licensing its mental property between 2019 and 2021. Huawei said it met its 2021 IP revenue expectations, but didn’t provide a figure.
5G has grow to be a controversial a part of a wider tech battle between the US and China. Each nations see it as a critical technology. But the US has raised concerns that Huawei poses a national security risk and has pressed other countries to ban the Chinese company from accessing their 5G infrastructure. Huawei has repeatedly denied that it poses a threat to national security.