ASTRI licenses Baseband LTE User Equipment Technologies to Innofidei

Aug. 22, 2012 - PRLog -- Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) announced today that it has exclusively licensed its LTE Baseband Core Technology for User Equipment applications to Innofidei (Hong Kong) Technology Ltd.

A licensing agreement was signed today by ASTRI CEO Dr Cheung Nim-kwan and Innofidei Corporation’s Founder and Chairman of the Board Dr Tom Zhang at a special ceremony, witnessed by Dr Patrick Wang, ASTRI Board Chairman and Mr Johann Wong, Deputy Commissioner for Innovation and Technology, HKSAR Government. The agreement involves the licensing of four ASTRI developed software codes and reference designs to Innofidei for a license term of 15 years.

LTE, which stands for Long Term Evolution, is the leading international 4G standard accepted by the International Telecommunication Union. While telecom giants worldwide are competing to roll out 4G mobile broadband services, operators in China are also seeking a smooth migration from 3G to 4G by adopting LTE as a single and unified standard.

Innofidei, as a chip and system solution provider for mobile handsets with focus on the China market, has been supporting telecom operators including China Mobile with chips and system solutions encompassing the LTE technology licensed from ASTRI. Future development of the technology resulted from this partnership will continue to enhance and speed up the process of full deployment of 4G LTE in China.

Dr Cheung was delighted to see that ASTRI technology was once again being commercialized by the industry and making contributions to the telecom market. He said, “The successful transfer of LTE technology marked a special milestone for both ASTRI and Hong Kong, as it has demonstrated the strengths and competitiveness of ASTRI in applied R&D and Hong Kong as a spawning ground for world-class technologies.”

Dr Cheung said he was looking forward to ASTRI’s continual collaborations with Innofidei and he hoped to see that the LTE applications achieved by this partnership would help unleash the full potentials of 4G LTE for the benefits of both operators and end-users.

Addressing the audience at the ceremony, Dr Zhang said, “Innofidei is delighted in maintaining close collaboration with ASTRI. The R&D capability of the institute and its enormous pool of talent allow Innofidei to promptly respond to market needs, and effectively capture opportunities in the mobile sector”.

Innofidei (Hong Kong) Technology Ltd, established in 2008 by Innofidei Corporation, is setting up an R&D centre in Hong Kong Science Park. It has already recruited about 30 researchers and administrative staff, including some ASTRI’s former R&D personnel.                              

ASTRI and Innofidei will continue their joint efforts in developing advanced LTE related technologies and applications. Apart from that, they are also planning to extend their cooperative scope to cover areas such as RFIC, Femto/Small-Cell, Antenna and Internet of Things in the next few years.

The two companies, as close partners since 2008, have been successful in achieving many important milestones in the developments of the LTE technology. They include the launch of the world’s first TD-LTE data card in 2010, showcase of the TD-LTE data card by China Mobile in a TD-LTE trial network at Shanghai World Expo 2010, TD-LTE field trials recently completed in seven cities in China with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and China Mobile, and the successful completion of the world’s first FDD/TDD LTE PS handover test in collaboration with China Mobile Hong Kong and ZTE.