Qualcomm: No Negotiations in India

Our India correspondent Shai Neelakantan sent over this look at Qualcomm’s moves in India. More about Qualcomm later this afternoon!

Qualcomm has denied reports that it is negotiating with Indian CDMA players, including Reliance Communications, on lowering royalty charges or chipset costs, The Hindu reports quoting the Press Trust of India news agency. “Qualcomm is committed to help the industry drive handset prices down and it involves multiple players and has nothing to do with negotiations on royalties with operators as they do not pay it,” the company is quoted as saying. The company said royalties on devices sold in India as well prices of the devices in the country are the lowest in the world. “Qualcomm is working aggressively to enable even lower-cost devices,” the company said.

Last month Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs’s talks with Reliance Communications officials in India broke down on the former’s refusal to negotiate on the royalties issue. After that meeting Reliance Communications said it might migrate to GSM technology.

CDMA subscribers’ share in the Indian market will fall to seven per cent by 2010 while GSM subscribers’ share will grow from the current 75 per cent to 93 per cent, according to consultant Credit Suisse. Nokia, the world’s largest handset maker, has already shelved its CDMA handset manufacturing plants.