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Our Bureau

New Delhi , Sept. 25

The US-based Qualcomm Inc is in talks with a number of Indian companies to give licence for manufacturing CDMA handsets similar to the agreement signed with HFCL.

Mr Kanwalinder Singh of Qualcomm India told Business Line that, "The agreement with HFCL is not a one off deal in the Indian market. We hope to make this market very competitive by signing up with more Indian companies. Competition will push the price point down just like it has done in international market with the likes of LG, Samsung, Huawei and Haier competing for a larger share of the market. Indian companies are in a position to compete with these multinational companies in the CDMA segment unlike the GSM segment where it may be impossible for an Indian company to start manufacturing."

The move by Qualcomm to give licences to Indian companies is aimed at addressing competition from rival GSM technology. While major GSM equipment companies such as Nokia have started manufacturing GSM handsets in the country, there are no CDMA handsets being produced locally.

Local manufacturing also helps in bringing down cost of handsets as costs related to shipping and packaging will be eliminated. "We have done what we had said we would do a few months back to make the CDMA ecosystem more competitive. The Indian CDMA operators and users stand to gain from these initiatives," said Mr Singh.

Royalty cut

On Reliance's demand for lowering royalty, Mr Singh said that Qualcomm has been proven right in looking at ways to reduce the total cost of handsets without cutting down on the royalty accruing to it. "The royalties payable by HFCL are at Qualcomm's standard worldwide rates. ," said Mr Singh.

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