Kyocera buys Qualcomm Terrestrial

Yasuo Nishiguchi, the president of Kyocera Japan, has snapped up Qualcomm's terrestrial based division -- the CDMA people -- for a vast amount of money which the company will not disclose. Kyocera is one of the biggest mobile phone manufacturers in Japan, and found itself associated with the ill-fated Iridium venture last year. Said Mr Nishiguchi: "As a result of the acquisition, Kyocera Group will be in a position to establish a system with the world's highest quality, covering all aspects of development, design, sales and marketing and after sales service in the growing business segment of CDMA portable phones. Kyocera Group will consequently possess bases in the United States, in addition to Japan and Korea, where we already operate CDMA phone business." Qualcomm was one of the most highly valued shares on Wall Street, last week, as reported here, last week. Mr Nishiguchi declined to comment on Kyocera's previous investment in Iridium, as reported last year. ® See also Japanese coverage from The Register Kyocera rejigs management to reverse situation Iridium gets 60 day reprieve Iridium CEO breaks orbit