China Unicom Turns Down CDMA

Shares of Qualcomm Inc. gyrated wildly in the wake of news that a major Chinese customer will not adopt the company’s mobile phone technology. China Unicom, the country’s second-largest telecommunications company, reportedly told industry analysts during a briefing it will not adopt the CDMA wireless telephone standard and instead will stick with a competing one. Shares of Qualcomm, which have dropped more than 40% over the last two weeks over worries, fell as much as 9% in early trading before surging back into positive territory as investors sought bargains on the beaten-down Nasdaq. Qualcomm closed up $10.31, or 16%, to $76.38. Despite the reports, Qualcomm remained upbeat about its prospects. CDMA, or code division multiple access, is a digital technology that provides better quality service and reliability and is more easily adapted for Internet applications.