Chipmaker Qualcomm today applied to bid in India’s forthcoming spectrum auctions for broadband wireless access (BWA) services which in the present scenario are limited to 2.3 GHz.

Qualcomm which is known for its CDMA chips including WCDMA, HSPA and EV-DO technological standards aims to offer TD-LTE standard based services on the 2.3GHz band. The company says that in the Indian scenario, TD-LTE is the technology best suited to complement current and upcoming 3G deployments and address India’s rapidly growing demand for high bandwidth broadband services.   According to it, TD-LTE is compatible with 3G technologies such as HSPA, WCDMA and EV-DO.

Qualcomm aims to first successfully bid for the auctions and then identify partners to offer services on this standard.

“Qualcomm’s goal is to attract an operator partner or partners into the venture at the appropriate time for construction of a TD-LTE network in compliance with the Indian Government’s rollout requirement for the BWA spectrum and then to exit the venture,” said the company.

The real game plan however seems to be much more than promoting TD-LTE and addressing broadband connectivity needs of India. Even if Qualcomm is not successful in winning the BWA spectrum it will do significant damage to the prospects of WiMAX services in India. In India presently only two blocks of 20 MHz are up for auctions. While this will take care of initial launch, globally it has been found that atleast 30 MHz is ideally required for a good business case for WiMAX services.

If Qualcomm wins the auctions, there will be only one private player left for WiMAX services. This will obviously lead to a reduced overall ecosystem for WiMAX services in the country and will restrict the potential of WiMAX services in the country. If Qualcomm bids unsuccessfully, it will atleast see to it that the price bar is raised for auctions and thus it will make that much more difficult for WiMAX players to formulate a financially viable business case.

Industry veterans however appear to be giving thumbs up to Qualcomm’s move. B K Syngal, former CMD VSNL told TelecomTiger, "It is good that more and more companies are showing interest." "LTE is comparatively proven technology. It has been deployed. If Qualcomm gets spectrum, then LTE will come in a big way." "If Qualcomm is bidding for LTE, it will do it seriously."