The Indian government is taking Qualcomm for $1bn. The money was paid for spectrum last year, but the Indian government has told Qualcomm that it is late in applying for an ISP licence which means that the spectrum allocation is lost and the money forfeit.
Under the terms of the spectrum auction it was stated that if the spectrum allocation is revoked then “no refund will be made” of the licence fee.
The Indian Department of Trade says that Qualcomm had three months to apply for an ISP licence and did not apply for it on time.
In fact Qualcomm had applied for the licence within the time limit but applied for four licences in four different cities, when it should, says the DoT, have only applied for one.
By the time the application for four ISP licences had been rejected and a new application for one licence had been made, the three months time limit had expired.
The India telecoms industry is rife with corruption. A previous telecoms minister was arrested on charges of fiddling the 2G auction.
Last year Vodafone lost its appeal against a decision by the Indian government that it should pay $1.6bn in capital gains tax on its $11bn purchase of a stake in Hutchison Essar.