Qualcomm faulted by China body for overcharging, dominance abuse

Qualcomm, the chipmaker whose products power numerous mobile phones, has run into trouble with the Chinese authorities.

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), an antitrust regulator in the country, said yesterday that Qualcomm was being investigated for possible overcharging and, abusing its "dominance" in the marketplace to limit competition Reuters reported earlier.

That Qualcomm had been under investigation by Chinese authorities had been known for long, but the agency had not openly faulted the company. Qualcomm said in November that it planned to fully cooperate with government authorities.

Reuters reported NDRC as saying yesterday that it received complaints from Qualcomm competitors who said that the company was charging heavily for patent licensing. The authorities are also investigating whether Qualcomm was charging more for its products in China than in other markets.

In another report, Reuters said, China's monopolies regulator had been collecting evidence of possible anti-competitive behaviour in the auto parts market of the country, the regulator said yesterday.

Chinese state television in December levelled accusations against foreign car maker of charging customers more for repairs in China than in other markets, which fueled speculation that the auto parts sector could be the next on the list of China's anti-monopoly campaign.

"We have always been watching, conducting informal investigations and collecting information ... but have not officially set up the case," Xu Kunlin, head of the National Development and Reform Commission's (NDRC) anti-monopoly and price supervision bureau, told a press conference in Beijing yesterday.

The NDRC had initiated investigations into the practices of several Chinese and foreign companies over the past year, from wine makers to jewelers.