Qualcomm to bid for India broadband airwaves

Qualcomm to bid for India broadband airwaves

India, the world's fastest-growing mobile services market, plans to conduct auctions of 3G and BWA spectrum in April that is expected to fetch the government a combined $7.7 billion

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Qualcomm Inc said on Wednesday it had applied to bid for radio waves in India's Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) auction to help launch next-generation technologies.

India, the world's fastest-growing mobile services market, plans to conduct auctions of 3G and BWA spectrum in April that is expected to fetch the government a combined $7.7 billion.

While 3G systems allow high-speed Internet access and data transfer on mobile phones, BWA technologies enable high-speed data communication over wireless links and provide better coverage than fixed-line broadband systems.

The 3G spectrum auction starts from April 9 and two days after it closes, the BWA auction will kick off, the government has said.

Global players such as Vodafone and Telenor are also expected to participate in the 3G auction, while nedia reports have said Google could be interested in the BWA auction.

The last day for applications for both is on Friday.

New Delhi has set a base price of 17.5 billion rupees ($385 million) for the BWA spectrum in all of India, but bids are expected to come at higher levels.

“We welcome the start of the process this week towards 3G and BWA auction which will enable deployment of wireless technologies that will have fundamental impact on India’s development. Qualcomnm has history of participating in spectrum auctions to expedite the commercialization of new wireless technologies,” said Kanwalinder Singh, president, Qualcomm India and South Asia while announcing Qualcomm participation in BWA spectrum auction on Wednesday.

If Qualcomm will be successful in winning the bid then it will look for Indian partners. Qualcom along with its Indian partners will work on to deploy TD-LTE technology and create ecosystem for the same.

“In India’s unpaired 2.3 Ghz spectrum band, TD-LTE is the technology best suited to complement current and upcoming 3G deployments. As you can see Indian CDMA operators will continue on the EVDO path in existing 800 Mhz . GSM operators will evolve to WCDMA and successful 3G winners will deploy HSPA service in 2.1 GHz band. TD-LTE is compatible with both 3G WCDMA and EV-DO and thus will offer seamless broadband experience to consumers within the country and while roaming globally,” explained Singh.

Singh highlighted that backward compatibility with 3G, both HSPA or EVDO , which are further compatible with 2G GSM and CDMA 2000 1X is the biggest advantage of TD-LTE technology.

However the success of TD-LTE technology will depend on the cost of access devices which are still under development.

Singh expects once these devices are developed, they will be able to meet the price that will best suit consumers.

Qualcomm will form a separate entity in India to run and develop TD-LTE deployment in India using BWA spectrum. The company is confident of getting partners to form a joint venture to run this business. Qualcomm will later exit from this joint venture after the business picks up.

“Once the business is up and running, we will exit from the venture abiding with norms and condition of government. We expect we would be able to do so in timeline of five years from the date of starting new venture,” said Singh.

(With inputs from CIOL Bureau)

©Reuters