The finalized 5G network standards are going to be announced later this year, but many manufacturers like Qualcomm or Samsung have already announced wireless modems that will meet or exceed them. Nokia, one of the mobile pioneers, network equipment included, will be owning part of the so-called standard essential patents (SEPs) around the technology and will demand everyone pay for the privilege to use them.

"Nokia has committed to license on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, in line with the applicable intellectual property rights policies of relevant standard setting organizations (SSOs)," says the statement the company sent to us.

The licensing fee? Well, 3 EUR may not sound that much on a per unit basis, but considering the hundreds of millions of phones that will support the so-called 5G New Radio standard, the potential windfall could be significant.

The good news is that this fee is for all of Nokia 5G SEP portfolio, and is capped, so manufacturers won't deal with increases in the future. Unfortunately, they also have to pay companies like Google, Qualcomm and even Microsoft for their mobile patents, so the intellectual property sums can quickly add up on a per unit basis, too.