South Korean FTC Investigates Qualcomm for Unfair Business Practices

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South Korean FTC Investigates Qualcomm for Unfair Business Practices

5:35 pm on April 5, 2006 | Category: Business, Wireless Technology

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission, the country’s main anti-trust regulator, has launched an investigation into the activities of Qualcomm, due to suspicions that the US-based chipmaker used its market dominance to engage in unfair business practices.

“It is true that Qualcomm has wielded unbeatable power in the Korean market. They exclusively have the rights to the code division multiple access, or CDMA, technology,” commented one FTC official, but refused to elaborate on the suspicions at hand.

The FTC is also known to have questioned two Korean handset makers, Samsung and LG Electronics, both of whom use Qualcomm’s CDMA chips in their mobile phones.

Although there are still no details about the exact grounds for suspicion, it is a known fact that Korean handset makers pay royalties to Qualcomm for each CDMA handset sold. Samsung, for example, has paid a 5% fee to the chipmaker since 1996.