Qualcomm to sell BWA stake to firm interested in promoting LTE

US-based chip maker Qualcomm, which has BWA licences for offering mobile broadband services in four circles in India, today said it will sell its stake to an operator planning to offer LTE-based services.

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is considered as '4G' technology, both because it is faster than 3G, and because it uses an architecture where everything (including voice) is handled as data, similar to the Internet.

Repying to a question regarding their exit from their broadband venture in India, Qualcomm's Senior Vice-President for Global Marketing Investor Relations, Bill Davidson, said, "The strategy is to ensure LTE's place in market in India and the key element is for the exit is that you find the right partners that help faster growth of LTE ecosystem."

"The financial consideration is important, but is not the only determination for us in terms of the right partners... (The partner) will have to adopt LTE technology. That was the whole reason that LTE must have space in the Indian market."

Qualcomm had formed its India broadband unit after bagging Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum (radio waves) in four circles -- Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala -- for about $1 billion in auctions held in June last year.

Earlier, media reports had said that Qualcomm has entered into a $1.2 billion deal to sell its BWA spectrum in four circles to a private telecom operator.

The company had already stated that Qualcomm has publicly stated that it will work with 3G operators to develop the 3G+LTE ecosystem, commercially deploy LTE TDD in the BWA spectrum and then exit its India LTE venture.

Following the auction, Qualcomm had formed separate joint venture companies for the four service areas. The company sold a 26% in the broadband unit to Tulip Telecom and Global Holdings for $57.72 million (about Rs 268 crore) last year.

Foreign companies cannot hold more than a 74% stake in an Indian telecom entity.

Qualcomm plans to exit the venture after creating a long-term evolution, or LTE, network to roll out broadband wireless access services. LTE is a technology that offers high-speed broadband and high-end multimedia services.