Govt not to interfere in Qualcomm's BWA licence sale plan

NEW DELHI: The government on Sunday said it will not intervene in US-based Qualcomm’s plans to sell their recently acquired wireless broadband, or BWA, spectrum to telcos, unless it infringes any rule. Asked whether the telecom department will look into the matter, DoT secretary R Chandrasekhar, on the sidelines of PanIIT event, said, “No, not unless there is any infringement.

We will not look into the matter, unless any infringement is brought to our notice.”
Unlike in the telecom sector, there is no lock-in period for BWA licencees and they can sell their business at any time after acquiring licences.

Qualcomm had formed its India unit after its purchase of BWA spectrum in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala for Rs 4,912.54 crore. The US giant, however, faces opposition from the forum promoting rival technology called Wimax for mobile broadband.

The Wimax forum claimed that Qualcomm used the auction process and the licence it has bagged as a tool to promote its own technology — TD LTE. The TD-LTE (time division-long term evolution) which is equivalent to the 4G technology faces competition from WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access.