In DoT (Department of Telecom) has rejected the Internet Service Provider (ISP) license that the global chipmaker, Qualcomm, had made, following its successful bid for BWA spectrum last year, where it secured the territories of Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Haryana for a staggering $1 billion.
Qualcomm, however, has decided to contest the stand taken by DoT. The company claims that it has fully complied with the process and is in dialogue with the Indian authorities to resolve the issue.
In a statement, the company said, "We received a notice from the Indian Department of Telecommunications on September 21, 2011, informing us that the licence to the companies formed with our Indian partners, for use of the spectrum Qualcomm won at last year's auction, has been rejected on grounds that we find to be baseless.
"In fact, the application process was fully complied with, and we will continue to work with the Indian authorities to resolve this matter," the company added.
On its part, the DoT is already looking into the recommendation for rejecting Qualcomm's BWA licence in the four circles on grounds that the company did not apply for licence in time. Qualcomm denies the allegations. It said the company applied for licences on August 9, 2010, through locally incorporated entity, which was within a month of getting Letter of Intent (LoI) from DoT for internet service provider (ISP) licence.
A company official has said, DoT gave us LoI for ISP A category licence on July 13, 2010. We applied within a month for the licences on August 9, 2010, through our entity incorporated in India.
The company had entered into a partnership with Indian firms Tulip Telecom and Global Holding Corporation in July 2010, for forming a separate entity, Wireless Broadband Business Services (WBBS). The WBBS was supposed to run BWA business, and it applied for ISP A category licence for each circle.
It is obvious that Qualcomm has a strong case, and hence the company is not expected to sit quietly. It might use all kinds of legal and diplomatic options to get the dispute resolved in its favour.
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