Bharti acquires stake in Qualcomm India licence-holding company

Qualcomm has sold a 49 per cent stake in its Indian broadband wireless licences holding company to Bharti Airtel for approximately US$165 million. The intention is that Bharti Airtel will take full ownership of the licences by the end of 2014.

Qualcomm paid just over US$1 billion for the concessions in the auctions of 2010, but has struggled to finalise their handover from the government, with final approval only being granted earlier this year. The company said at the time of bidding for the licences that it would roll out a 4G network then sell the company.

Due to foreign investment rules, Qualcomm owns a 74 per cent stake in the Indian venture, with the remaining 26 per cent owned by Global Holding Corp and Tulip Telecom.

Under the agreement, Bharti is buying the 26 per cent stake held by Global Holding and Tulip Telecom, and the balance by way of subscription of fresh equity in those entities.

Qualcomm’s licences cover Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala, while Bharti has BWA licences in four circles – Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra – and 3G licenses in thirteen circles in India.

With this agreement, Bharti has secured a near nation-wide broadband capability in 18 circles.

Qualcomm expects to provide technical assistance to Bharti in connection with network architecture and optimisation, infrastructure and device testing, as well as continuing to develop and support the underlying technology and the LTE TDD ecosystem.