3G gives Qualcomm a boost

NEWS Qualcomm shares jumped nearly 10 per cent yesterday after the mobile chip maker said sales for its latest quarter would be at the upper end of expectations. The announcement comes as welcome news for the company, which as recently as January was saying that the outlook was bleak. Sales of 3G-related technology were proving a particular fillip. Irwin Jacobs, chief executive of Qualcomm, is quoted in the FT as saying: "We continue to see positive momentum in the build-out of 3G CDMA [code division multiple access] networks around the world." Qualcomm is yet another company currently under scrutiny for allegedly dubious accounting practices. Its shares have dropped around 25 per cent so far this month because of these concerns. However, Jacobs denied that there are any irregularities in its accounting, and added that his company has a strong balance sheet, almost no debt and cash reserves of $2.4bn.