Qualcomm readying 4G launch by year-end

US chipmaker Qualcomm is looking to launch its fourth generation (4G) technology-based broadband services by the end of the year. The company, which had won broadband spectrum a year ago in four circles, is also close to finalising its strategic partner in the venture.

Speaking to Business Line , Mr Kanwalinder Singh, President, Qualcomm India and South Asia, said, “We had earlier announced a four-step strategy for our broadband venture – to invest in spectrum, accelerate the ecosystem, to introduce one or more operators as partners and eventually exit. We are at the third step and we are in talks with operators.”

He however did not name the operators which could pick stake in the Qualcomm venture.

“The timing of introducing partner is bound because we are looking at launching the networks by the end of 2011 or first half year of 2012. The new partner will make the investments for rolling out services in the circles. Once the partner operator takes control of the network we will exit,” he added.

Qualcomm is betting on the TDD-LTE (Time Division Duplex Long Term Evolution) technology for rolling our broadband services in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala. The company owns 74 per cent stake in the venture while the balance is held jointly by Tulip Telecom GTL. The chip-maker's bid for the broadband spectrum in 2010 had taken many by surprised but the move dealt a blow to companies which wanted to bring in WiMax technology, a rival to the LTE platform.

After winning broadband spectrum, Qualcomm and equipment vendors including Ericsson hastened the development of the LTE ecosystem. According to Mr Singh, LTE based network equipment is already available and devices will be launched soon.

“We have accelerated the ecosystem and convinced all the infrastructure vendors that they should implement 3G in a way that LTE is an upgrade. Every vendor from ZTE to Ericsson to Nokia Siemens, Huawei has equipment to enable LTE upgrade,” Mr Singh said.

“On the devices side we expect go commercial with our multimode chipsets within next couple of months and then devices will start rolling out from late 2011 or early 212. Dongles will come first,” he added.

Industry watchers said that operators which already have 3G spectrum could be talking to Qualcomm for a stake in the venture. According to a report from BNP Paribas and operator like Bharti Airtel can leverage broadband spectrum to prevent network congestion as 3G usage peaks over the next few years.