Nokia to stop nearly all production of CDMA phones

Scheme to partner Sanyo for development and production of CDMA mobiles has fallen through

23 June 2006 10:46 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Plans between Nokia and Sanyo to team up to produce CDMA phones have fallen through because the mobile phone giant has decided to stop manufacturing CDMA mobiles.

CDMA is used by about 25 to 30% of the world's mobile phone users, and is far less popular than the GSM standard.

However, it is the dominant mobile phone technology in the US and parts of Asia, overall it loses out to GSM because GSM phones are less expensive to use.

Nokia will still brand certain CDMA phones in North America, but those handsets are produced by third-party manufacturers.

The deal between Sanyo and Nokia reportedly fell through because of demands made by Qualcomm, a chip manufacturer who owns most of the patents for CDMA technology in the US.

The restructuring change that Nokia plans for the decreasing CDMA operation is going to cost an estimated €150 million, but the company believes it will have a positive effect on its operating margins.

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