CHINESE tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. said Friday it has sealed a multiyear patent cross-licensing deal with Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson.

The agreement covers patents essential to a wide range of standards such as 3G, 4G and 5G cellular technologies as well as both companies’ “respective sales of network infrastructure and consumer devices,” Shenzhen-based Huawei said in a statement.

The deal, finalized earlier this month, will grant both parties global access to each other’s patented, standardized technologies.

“We are delighted to reach a long-term global cross-licensing agreement with Ericsson,” Alan Fan, Huawei’s intellectual property chief, said.

“As major contributors of standard essential patents for mobile communication, the companies recognize the value of each other’s intellectual property, and this agreement creates a stronger patent environment.”

Fan said the agreement “is the result of intensive discussions that ensured the interests of both patent holders and implementers are served fairly.”

Alejandro Cadenas, associate vice president of global market research firm International Data Corp., told global online enterprise technology news publication The Register that the agreement should be seen as a good move for the telecom industry.

“My view is that this is good news for the industry in a time when the adoption of such technologies needs to be supported by device availability and compatibility of infrastructure,” he said.

“An extension of an agreement between such telecom provider giants goes in the right direction to make innovation available to customers in the shortest time, while protecting the ownership of such innovation via reasonable compensation.”

PP Foresight telecom analyst Paolo Pescatore agreed, saying: “This deal provides long-term certainty, especially for Huawei, and will now strengthen Ericsson’s network position in 5G.”

Over the past 20 years, Huawei has been a major contributor to mainstream information and communications technology standards such as cellular communications and multimedia coding and decoding. In 2022, Huawei submitted 4,505 patent applications to the European Patent Office, ranking first among applicants.

“Our commitment to sharing leading technological innovations will drive healthy, sustainable industry development and provide consumers with more robust products and services,” Fan said.

Huawei is China’s tech champion and half of the firm’s 207,000 employees work in research and development. The firm is the biggest global maker of network equipment for phone and internet companies.

Huawei has been at the center of intense U.S. restrictions aimed to impede China’s technological advancement.

Rounds of U.S. sanctions on Huawei since 2019 have cut off the firm from global supply chains for American components and hobbled its smartphone arm.

Washington has also pressured its allies to ban the use of Huawei gear in their 5G telecom networks.

Huawei has responded to U.S. curbs by increasing emphasis on selling network gear to hospitals and ports and diversifying into new industries such as cloud computing and electric cars. (Yang Yunfei)