Samsung Electronics said on Thursday that it has renewed its contract with U.S. wireless chip supplier Qualcomm on new terms.

Under the new 15-year licensing deal, Samsung will grant Qualcomm the right to use its 57 patents in mobile technology and pay the U.S. company a lump sum of US$1.3 billion but less in royalties for licensed wireless technologies including code division multiple access (CDMA).

Korean phone manufacturers have paid up to 5.75 percent of cell phone prices in royalties to Qualcomm. A Samsung spokesman declined to elaborate on the details of the contract, saying, "Royalty payment conditions have improved, but we agreed to keep the deal secret, so I can't say how much of a discount we're getting."

The new deal could spur other Korean phone makers to launch renegotiations of their deals with Qualcomm.

The U.S. company holds many patented semiconductor technologies for cell phones. In July, it was slapped with fines of W260 billion (US$1=W1,181) by Korea's Fair Trade Commission for abusing its monopoly status in the handset chip market.