Ericsson, Huawei extend global patent deal
Ericsson and Huawei extended their global patent-licensing agreement, which includes cross-licensing covering patents relating to their wireless standard-essential patents (GSM, UMTS and LTE).

Under the agreement, both companies are able to access and implement the other company’s standard essential patents and technologies globally.

As part of the renewed agreement, Huawei will make on-going royalty payments based upon actual sales to Ericsson from 2016 and onwards. Further details of the agreement are confidential.

UOB Kay Hian cuts Singtel target price after Thai auction
UOB Kay Hian cut its target price for Singtel’s stock after AIS paid $1.1 billion for 15MHz of 1.8GHz spectrum in Thailand’s auctions late last year.

Singtel owns about 23 per cent of the Thai operator, which is the country’s largest with a 46 per cent share of mobile connections. AIS accounted for only 6.4 per cent of Singtel’s group profit before tax in fiscal 2015.

The brokerage reduced its target price to SGD4.42 from SGD4.56 ($3.14 to $3.24) but maintained its “buy” rating. It lauded AIS for stepping out of the bidding process in the second round for the 900MHz sale when it became “irrational”, the Edge Markets reported.

China Mobile names 10 small cell vendors
China Mobile purchased 96,400 small cell base stations from ten suppliers through an open bid.

The operator said the volumes were small and it will use the equipment on a trial basis. It said the small cell units support carrier aggregation on the 2.3-3.7GHz band.

The equipment suppliers are Ericsson, Datang Mobile and ZTE as well as seven smaller China-based makers. These include Fujian Sunnada, China GrenTech, Comba Telecom, Beijing Boomsense Technology and Raisecom Technology, the company said.

Singtel reaches out to startups with global initiative
The Singtel Group’s venture capital arm introduced a programme, called Innov8 Connect, designed to help startups create products and services that solve real-world business challenges faced by the regional operator.

Singtel Innov8, which has $250 million in funding and invests and partners with tech startups worldwide, will give selected startups up to SGD75,000 ($53,200) to test and validate their solutions with Singtel.

It said successful solutions may lead to commercialisation within the group, which will give startups access to its customer base. The selected companies will also have the opportunity to seek additional funding from Singtel Innov8 and tap into its global network of co-investors and partners.