NTT Docomo, Japan’s largest mobile operator, reached a licensing agreement with Samsung covering the operator’s standard-essential patents.

As part of the agreement, Samsung will pay licensing fees to Docomo. The deal takes the number of companies granted standard-essential patent licences from Docomo to more than 30.

Docomo said in a statement the agreement includes both parties’ cooperation in business and standard setting activities. The operator receives licensing fees for its patents, which are paid via patent pools or directly by individual companies.

The operator, with a 36 per cent market share, had 69 million mobile subscribers at end-September, with 4G users accounting for 68 per cent of the total, latest data from GSMA Intelligence showed.