Royalty, security to figure in Maran-Qualcomm talks

Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran is likely to raise the issue of high royalty paid by Indian CDMA service providers to US based technology firm Qualcomm at 7% among other things with Paul Jacob, the visiting CEO of Qualcomm, tomorrow.

Sources said, Maran is taking up the issue of the much higher 7% royalty issue with Qualcomm that an Indian CDMA service provider has to pay to the US based company for each connection it provides while in China, the fee is just 2%.

The glaring gap will figure high during the talks and it is expected that the government may tell Jacob that parity with the neighbouring country is a must, with India emerging as the fastest growing wireless market in the world. It would make sense for any technology provider to be here, they said.

India is adding about 4-5 million customers a month but most of them are on GSM technology. Sources said since the government wants multiple technology platform for telecom services, it would like to act as a facilitator in removing the perceived hindrances in rolling out alternate technology based services so that the country does not move towards a single technology based mobile service like Korea.

A single technology based mobile service can cause severe interoperability and roaming problems. "There is no issue of talking on behalf or for anybody. We want to remain technology neutral but would act if there is any confusion on road to this neutrality, senior DoT officials said.