4G price war: Qualcomm buy can give Bharti an edge over RIL

In a bid to launch 4G services in the key markets of Mumbai and Delhi, Bharti Airtel is in talks to buy 4G license from Qualcomm for Rs 6,000 crore, reports The Economic Times.

The country’s largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel on Tuesday launched India’s first 4G service in Kolkata, which will offer data speeds more than 10 times faster than 3G but at nearly the same tariff. This means that your pirated torrent streams can be downloaded in just 2 minutes while a copyright-protected movie will take around 12 minutes.

Even though Sunil Mittal, chairman Bharti Airtel, managed to roll out 4G way before if tough rival Mukesh Amabni, RIL still has an edge over Bharti as the latter has pan-India licence through Infotel Ltd and spectrum for 4G services. Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, has permits for only four circles, including Kolkata, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka, and hence needs access to other key markets in order to retain its market edge.

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Both companies had begun talks to sell Qualcomm’s 74 percent stake in its Indian joint venture after the US chip-maker Qualcomm had won BWA spectrum in four circles - Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala - for about Rs 4,900 crore in the auction held by the government in June 2010, said the ET report.

However, the talks were halted as the Department of Telecommunication had cancelled the US company’s permits last year for outstanding license fees owed by one the company’s joint venture partners. DoT rejected Qualcomm’s application, saying the company had made four nominees instead of one. The company had later made one nominee.

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But Qualcomm resolved the issue and on 14 March 2012 got a licence for wireless broadband services after the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal ordered the DoT to issue the licences in favour of Qualcomm’s India unit .