As part of the agreement, Samsung is to pay licensing fees to NTT Docomo

Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo announced that it has reached an agreement to grant a patent license covering DoCoMo’s standard essential patents, including 5G, to Korean company Samsung Electronics.

As part of the agreement, Samsung is to pay licensing fees to NTT Docomo, the latter said in a release.

“DoCoMo has been actively involved in the research and development of mobile network related technologies such as W-CDMA, LTE, LTE-Advanced, 5G and 6G, and new service-related technologies, to realize its ultimate goal of enhancing mobile experiences for customers,” NTT DoCoMo said.

“NTT DoCoMo has also been applying for patents on these technologies, resulting in its ownership of some 10,000 standard essential patents for mobile communications. In turn, NTT DoCoMo has licensed its cellular wireless standard essential patents to more than 80 companies, including those in patent pools as well as through bilateral agreements.”

Going forward, NTT DoCoMo said it will continue to promote research and development as well as to contribute standardization of advanced mobile communication technologies such as 5G, 5G Evolution and 6G, and license its cellular wireless standard essential patents.

NTT DoCoMo and its parent company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) recently announced plans to expand experimental trials in the 6G field with five vendors including Nokia, Fujitsu, NEC, Ericsson and Keysight Technologies.

In preparation for launch of as-yet-unstandardized 6G systems, DoCoMo and NTT said they are already engaged in the verification of various mobile comms technologies for purposes including use of millimeter and sub-terahertz frequency bands in addition to bands currently used for 5G technology. DoCoMo and NTT have been collaborating with Fujitsu, NEC and Nokia on trials of future 6G systems, as well as related AI technologies, since June 2022.

The Japanese firms have now formally agreed with Ericsson to begin testing 6G wireless interfaces for mid-band 6 GHz-15 GHz frequencies, as well as sub-terahertz 100 GHz bands. Also, the pair has recently agreed to test radio propagation with Keysight Technologies for ultra-wideband communication using sub-terahertz bands.

DoCoMo and NTT said they will conduct further 6G trials with additional vendors.

The companies also noted that had recently achieved two key technological milestones with Nokia on the path to future 6G systems. Nokia said the first was the implementation of AI and MLthe radio air interface, effectively giving 6G radios the ability to learn. The second is the utilization of new sub-terahertz (sub-THz) spectrum to boost network capacity, the vendor added.

Nokia, DoCoMo and NTT had initially launched their 6G collaboration in June 2022.

6G systems are expected to be commercially launched by 2030, while the first phase of standardization will likely start from 2025, leading to the first 6G specification in 3GPP Release 21 by 2028.