Nokia says stay ordered for Qualcomm's suit

Nokia (NOK1V.HE), the world's biggest mobile phone maker, said on Tuesday the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has ordered a stay of wireless chip supplier Qualcomm's suit against Nokia.

Qualcomm filed a complaint with the ITC last June asking the agency to bar the U.S. sale of certain Nokia products saying Nokia engaged in unfair trading practices by importing and selling phones that infringed its patents.

Nokia said the ITC administrative law judge overseeing the investigation ordered a stay of the case until further notice. The trial for the case had been scheduled to begin on March 5.

"Nokia is not aware of the exact reasons for the decision," said spokesman Bill Plummer adding that he believes "the decision in part reflects some of Nokia's defense actions."

Neither the ITC nor Qualcomm was immediately available to comment.

San Diego-based Qualcomm is also embroiled in another case at the ITC where chip rival Broadcom Corp (Nasdaq:BRCM - news) is trying to have the U.S. sale of Qualcomm chips banned.

BMO analyst John Bucher said it was not possible to determine the impact of the stay on either company without knowing the rationale behind the judge's decision.

Nokia and Qualcomm are also in negotiations to renew a technology licensing agreement that expires on April 9 but Qualcomm has said the talks remain deadlocked.

Plummer said he did not think the stay was "in any way connected" with Nokia's ongoing negotiations with Qualcomm.

He said Nokia was confident it had not infringed any of the patents in the case which pertains to GSM, the world's most widely used technology standard for mobile phones.

Qualcomm had reduced the number of claims in the case to three patents from six, Plummer said.

Qualcomm is the dominant supplier of chips for phones based on
CDMA, the most widely used U.S. cellular technology, and supplies chips based on W-CMDA, a technology used in Europe.

Reuters

Sri Lanka halts sale of telecom services to embattled regions

Sri Lanka suspended sales of telephones and mobile phone cards in the embattled north and east of the country as troops stepped up attacks against Tiger rebels, an official said Thursday.

The move was temporary and aimed at preventing guerrillas making use of phone services for military operations, telecoms watchdog chief Kanchana Ratwatte said.

"The Defence Ministry has asked us to tell the operators to stop selling telecom equipment and services like pre-paid cards and new connections to people in the north and east," Ratwatte said.

The announcement came as Sri Lankan jets bombed suspected Tiger positions in northeast Sri Lanka, a day after Colombo stepped up an offensive against the rebels, killing at least 18 people, according to military officials.

Ratwatte alleged that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) had been using the phone network to obtain information about Sri Lankan military movements.

In January, authorities restored mobile services to the eastern region after it was blacked out for several weeks due to military reasons.

Mobile services in the north were restored in December after being out of service for at least six months due to the ethnic conflict.

Over 60,000 people have died during the 35-year conflict in which the minority Tamils are fighting for an independent homeland.

Despite a 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce, more than 4,000 people have been killed in the past 15 months.