Bharti to buy Qualcomm’s Indian wireless business

Bharti Airtel is likely to buy the yet-to-be-launched Indian wireless broadband business of US mobile devices chipmaker Qualcomm.  The US-based chip maker is said to be in an advanced stage of discussions with the country's largest telecom operator to sell its BWA licenses in all four circles, according to ET Now which cited unnamed sources.

The valuation of the deal is likely to be around $1.2-1.3 billion, with a premium of 25-30 per cent. The company holds BWA licenses for four circles of Mumbai, Delhi, Kerala and Haryana for which it paid $1.05 billion. 

The ET Now report quoted an unnamed industry source as saying that Qualcomm was not expecting much of a premium on the licenses. According to the source it expected only a commitment from the operator that it would use its LTE TDD technology. 

Without confirming the story the company, in an email statement said, "Qualcomm has publicly stated that it will work with 3G operators to develop the 3G+LTE ecosystem, commercially deploy LTE TDD in the BWA spectrum, and then exit its India LTE Venture. Consistent with those goals, discussions with 3G operators in India on LTE TDD commercialization and commercial discussions related to Qualcomm's BWA spectrum are indeed ongoing. These discussions are however confidential and Qualcomm cannot comment on speculation regarding specifics." 

Earlier  ET Now had reported that along with Bharti Airtel, Aircel was also in talks with Qualcomm for acquisition of its wireless broadband business. Bharti Airtel was  interested in Delhi and Haryana, while Aircel evinced  interest for Mumbai and Kerala circles but ET Now said the latest development was that Aircel, a unit of Malaysia's Maxis Communications has walked out of the deal due to some issues. 

According to the ET Now report Global Holding and Tulip Telecom, Qualcomm's India partners hold around 13 per cent each in the company. Both companies would also sell their stake, if Bharti Airtel successfully buys the BWA licenses of Qualcomm India.