India’s telecoms ministry has approved Qualcomm’s sale of its stake in Wireless Business Services (WBSPL), once a BWA venture, to Bharti Airtel.
The deal does not violate the 2010 auction rules with regards to the transfer of licences and ownership…
India’s telecoms ministry has approved Qualcomm’s sale of its stake in Wireless Business Services (WBSPL), once a BWA venture, to Bharti Airtel.
The deal does not violate the 2010 auction rules with regards to the transfer of licences and ownership structure.
In October last year, Bharti consolidated WBSPL after acquiring the remaining 49% stake in WBSPL it did not already own. The acquisition has allowed Airtel, which already has BWA licences in Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra, to expand its 4G footprint.
In June 2010, the US semiconductor company had applied for BWA licences following a successful bid for frequencies in the circles of Mumbai, Delhi, Kerala and Haryana for US$1bn.
But the telecoms ministry initially refused to allocate the frequencies, arguing that Qualcomm was late in filing the application. The dispute came to an end at the beginning of May 2012, with Qualcomm being awarded 4G spectrum in the four circles.