Bharti Airtel has signed an agreement with Qualcomm, under which, Bharti has made an initial investment of approximately $165 million (Rs 927.39 crore approx) to acquire 49% interest in Qualcomm's India entities that hold BWA/4G licenses in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala. The deal is partly by way of acquisition of 26% equity interest, equally held by Global Holding Corporation Private Limited and Tulip Telecom Limited, and the balance by way of subscription of fresh equity in Qualcomm's entities. The agreement contemplates that after the launch of the commercial operations, subject to certain terms and conditions, Bharti would assume complete ownership and financial responsibility for the BWA entities by the end of 2014. The move does not come as a surprise because Qualcomm, which is more focused on being a technology provider, always intended to exit the business after setting it up. There was speculation that Bharti would be buying the spectrum since it was crucial for it to enter critical markets like Delhi and Mumbai, where it had not been able to secure spectrum during the auctions, but regulatory hurdles prevented such a deal till Qualcomm was allotted spectrum, last week. Bharti has BWA licenses in four circles - Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra, and has already launched 4G services in Kolkata and Karnataka Circles. Qualcomm expects to provide technical assistance to Bharti in connection with network architecture and optimization, infrastructure and device testing, as well as intends to develop and support the underlying technology and the LTE TDD ecosystem. Qualcomm's…
