Qualcomm CEO comes calling

Amid the raging controversy of royalty issues, Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Paul Jacobs is landing in India tonight to hold discussions with top brasses of CDMA service providers in the country.

The Qualcomm chief is slated to meet Tata group Chairman Ratan N Tata tomorrow, Minister of IT and Telecommunications Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday and Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani on Thursday.

In his meeting with the heads of the CDMA majors, Jacobs will discuss the royalty issues, Qualcomm's push-to-talk (PTT) technology and the company's plans for the future in the country.

Although he was ready to visit India earlier when the issue erupted, it had to be postponed to accommodate the minister's schedule, sources in the ministry today said.

In Jacobs' meeting with Tata, who is also the chairman of Investment Commission, Government of India, the differential treatment in royalty in the country is expected to be discussed.

The company's royalty structure in India is much higher compared with that in other countries like Korea, China and the US.

The security concerns that were raised by the Department of Technology (DoT) on the PTT service of Tata Teleservices, which had to be suspended and attracted penalty of Rs 50 crore, would also be discussed.

In his meeting, Maran is likely to discuss the latest developments in the CDMA technology that can be put to use for mass consumption, rural initiatives and the companies' plans.

Ambani is also likely to take up the royalty issue in his meeting with Jacobs. Reliance Communications has sought allocation of 1,800 MHz spectrum from the DoT, with the intention to foray into GSM.

This had sent shock waves to Qualcomm, the developer and holder of patent rights of the CDMA technology. Reliance Communications, with around 20 million CDMA users, is Qualcomm's largest customer.