InterDigital Communications Corporation announced on Thursday that Nokia agreed to pay $253 million to settle a dispute over royalties for telecom technology.

U.S.-based InterDigital sued over payments for second-generation (2G) mobile phone technology and related litigation matters. The payment is expected to be made by Friday, the company said in a press release.

As part of the deal, Nokia "will be released from infringement liability for its worldwide sales of 3G (third generation) terminal units and infrastructure," according to InterDigital, but talks will continue on a new license.

The parties have agreed to terminate their 1999 patent license agreement that was primarly scheduled to terminate at the end of the year. As a result, Nokia's sales of 3G products after April 26 will be unlicensed. InterDigital expects to continue negotiations with Nokia on the matter.

"Throughout this process, we were confident that we would be paid the amounts owed under the arbitration award by agreement or by court order," said William Merritt, President and Chief Executive of InterDigital.

Regarding future 3G sales, Merritt added: "We remain hopeful that we can reach an amicable resolution on this issue on terms acceptable to both parties. By terminating the current license agreement, the parties have a clean slate from which to work and resolve 3G issues."

InterDigital will host a conference call today to discuss the resolution. For a live Internet broadcast of the conference call visit InterDigital< then click on the link to the Live Web Cast on the homepage.