Qualcomm to bid in India’s broadband auction

Qualcomm is the first international firm to announce it will participate in India’s auction for a broadband wireless access (BWA) licence. The US chip manufacturer has applied to bid for pan-India spectrum in the 2.3GHz band, and if successful, the win would accelerate the company’s deployment of the TD-LTE (Time Division Long Term Evolution) standard.

Local regulations stipulate that foreign companies can not own more than 74 per cent equity in joint ventures, and therefore Qualcomm is looking to initially partner with an existing Indian mobile operator while it builds a network based on the TD-LTE standard, a technology that offers high-speed broadband and high-end multimedia services. At a later stage, the US firm would then look to exit the joint venture.

India’s government plans to auction two slots of pan-India BWA bandwidth, with the reserve price set at INR17.5 billion (US$386 million). The broadband auction is scheduled to begin two days after the commencement of the country’s 3G auction, which starts on April 9. Local mobile operator Aircel has also stated it plans to participate in the broadband auction.