Smartphones runs on processors which can clock at speeds of 1 GHz and more. The heart of the processors are the chipsets used in them. Snapdragon is one such chipset and is very famous in the smartphone market. Its producer Qualcomm is a US based company, which tops in the world of chipset industry. But Qualcomm has other interests in the mobile phone industry other than making chipsets. One such interest lead them buying rights to offer high speed broadband connectivity in India. They owned the right in four circles. Apart from the two Metro circles [Delhi and Mumbai], they have rights in Haryana and Kerala circles.
Due to a later stake buying frenzy, Indian telecom service provider Bharti Airtel bought 51 % shares of Qualcomm’s right to offer high speed broadband connectivity in India. Qualcomm had established four joint ventures after winning the spectrum and licenses and it retained a share of 74 % stake thereafter. Global Holding Corporation and Tulip Telecom were its partners, holding 13 % each in all four joint ventures. After the deal with Qualcomm, Bharti Airtel will now control all those four companies. The financial terms are yet to be clear. Bharti Airtel had announced that it will start 4G services in Mumbai and Delhi sooner.
Unconfirmed reports says that Airtel has sets its eyes on fully owning the four joint ventures by 2014. Its said that 4G will be in full bloom across the country within that period. Reliance Jio had announced that it will be launching 4G services sooner, so Airtel thinks that it will eventually turn an advantage for them. At present, Airtel offers 4G connectivity in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune and Chandigarh via 4G dongles.
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