Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Qualcomm is in an advanced stage of talks with Bharti Airtel to sell its broadband wireless access (BWA) licences in India. BWA spectrum enables high-speed 4G services, called long-term evolution (LTE), with speeds of 5-15 mbps, many times faster than 3G networks.

Qualcomm India, which took part in the BWA auction last year, got licences for four markets, including the lucrative Delhi and Mumbai, apart from Kerala and Haryana. The company paid a total of Rs 4,912 crore. It might seek a premium over this from Bharti. Qualcomm holds these four licences through its Indian arm, in which it holds a 74 per cent stake. The rest is owned by GTL and Tulip Telecom.

The deal, if it goes through, will give Bharti BWA spectrum in eight circles. At present, it has BWA licences for Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kolkata and Punjab. It plans to start 4G services by the end of this year, a few months after the launch of 3G services. The deal will also help Bharti compete with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, which has bought a pan-India BWA licence from HFCL. Reliance and Bharti are both expected to launch 4G services around the same time.crackcrack