In a sign that the economic malaise creeping into the economy isn't slowing the deployment of 3G mobile phones, Qualcomm said it expects revenue and profits to increase slightly in the quarter ending June 29 over its earlier estimates.

The company, which provides components and other technologies for advanced cell phones, said it based its upgraded prediction on some 86 million mobile station modem chips that it expects will be shipped in the quarter.

The figures are something of a surprise, because improved shipment figures were expected to show up in low-cost mobile phones, not in 3G versions.

"We are expecting another successful quarter driven by the continued global migration to 3G," said Qualcomm's chief executive Paul Jacobs, in a statement late Thursday. "Our updated guidance reflects greater than expected demand for our 1xEV-DO and HSPA chipsets as well as revenues from advanced 3G network upgrades."

The company said the CDMA devices -- consisting of both CDMA2000 and WCDMA technologies -- are being delivered at an average selling price of $226 per unit.

"The fundamental drivers of our business remain strong," said Jacobs, "and based on the current business outlook we are raising our fiscal 2008 pro forma earnings per share guidance range to approximately $2.09-$2.13." Previously Qualcomm had estimated earnings would come in between $2.04 and $2.09.

Qualcomm also alluded to its long-running and bitter litigation with Nokia, which is scheduled to be taken up in a Delaware court in the coming weeks. Qualcomm maintains that Nokia is obligated to pay it royalties, but Qualcomm said it hasn't been recording any royalty revenue due from Nokia after April 9, 2007, and doesn't plan to record the revenue "until a court awards damages or the dispute is otherwise resolved by agreement with Nokia."

Qualcomm's stock jumped more than 5% on the news in early stock market trading Friday.

Source:TechwebNews.com