A growing trend
Last month we proposed that Intel's biggest competitor is now Qualcomm, and today it has been revealed that the parallels extend to conflict with regulatory authorities.
The Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has been investigating Qualcomm's business practices regarding CDMA (3G) technology, of which it owns the majority of patents, and the Asian variant of it called WCDMA. The investigation was prompted by complaints from Qualcomm competitors Texas Instruments and Broadcom.
According to a press release from Qualcomm, much of the case against it has been dropped, but the KTFC is fining Qualcomm in the region of $200 million for certain discounts and rebates it provides to its Korean customers on the purchase of its CDMA chipsets, that are in violation of Korean competition law.
This announcement comes the day after Intel announced it was appealing the €1.06 billion fine imposed by the European Commission for... rebates considered to be anticompetitive.
Donald J. Rosenberg, EVP and general counsel of Qualcomm, said: "...the decision appears to have ignored or discounted evidence presented by Qualcomm and its Korean customers that demonstrates that Qualcomm's business practices in Korea have been lawful, highly beneficial to its customers and the Korean wireless industry, and pro-competitive."
Qualcomm is, if anything, more dominant in the CDMA market than Intel is in the CPU one. Therefore it is likely to have its business practices put under constant scrutiny, especially as demand for products containing CDMA chipsets continues to grow.
