Qualcomm has acquired San Diego-based Qualphone for $18 million in cash in a deal expected to accelerate Qualcomm’s delivery of multimedia-capable, feature-rich 3G solutions such as photos and video for WCDMA and CDMA markets. Qualphone has been a leading provider of Internet Protocol-based multimedia subsystems, embedded client software solutions for mobile devices and interoperability testing services for handsets.

Sanjay Jha, president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, says the Qualphone’s test service, IMS technology and software development will be essential to the acceleration of more feature rich services in European and other markets. Qualphone’s Isaac Eteminan, president and CEO, says the move is a logical outcome of each company’s goal of simplifying the deployment of 3G services around the world.

Qualcomm spokesperson Kira Lee says all of Qualphone’s employees — fewer than 100 people scattered across offices in San Diego, the United Kingdom, Italy and India — will keep their jobs. What roles Eteminan and Marco Carosi, Qualphone’s managing director for Europe, will take on at Qualcomm remains undetermined. They will be incorporated into Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.

Eteminan has more than 20 years’ experience in telecom and wireless technology, and was most recently founder and chief technology officer at Sonim Technologies, where he pioneered Push-to-Talk technology for wireless networks.

Carosi has more than 15 years in the wireless technology business, and was previously managing director of an independent software development and consultancy company focusing on wireless markets. Carosi has also served as senior architect and consultant for Nuova Telespazio on several projects for Motorola, ESA, Inmarsat and the European Commission.

Lee says the companies have no prior history – the similarity between the names Qualcomm and Qualphone is purely coincidental. Not that it hurts in trying to get noticed.