Bharti Airtel Lifts Stake in Qualcomm's BWA License Holders

Bharti Airtel already owned a 49% stake in the Qualcomm subsidiary after paying US$165 million last May, and in a short statement to the stock exchange announced that it has lifted its stake to 51 percent, giving it control of the holding company that owns the licenses..

With this the holding companies that own the four licenses are now subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel.

Qualcomm's licenses cover Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala, while Bharti has BWA licenses in four circles - Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra - and 3G licenses in thirteen circles in India.

Qualcomm paid just over US$1 billion for the licenses in the auctions of 2010, but has struggled to finalise their handover from the government, with final approval only being granted in early 2012. The company said at the time of bidding for the licenses that it would roll out a 4G network then sell the company.