Qualcomm hit with US$208m antitrust fine

Telecommunications giant Qualcomm has been hit with a $208m fine in South Korea for violating antitrust laws.

South Korean officials ruled that the company acted in violation of antitrust laws with its pricing for CDMA chipsets, providing favourable prices to vendors which did not use components from rival firms.

The ruling comes as the conclusion to a three year legal drama which began with complaints filed by rival firms Texas Instruments and Broadcom. Other antitrust charges against the company were struck down.

In a statement released shortly after the judgement was announced, Qualcomm disputed the fine and vowed to file an appeal in the case.

"The decision appears to have ignored or discounted evidence presented by Qualcomm and its Korean customers that demonstrates that Qualcomm's business practices in Korea have been lawful, highly beneficial to its customers and the Korean wireless industry, and pro-competitive," said Qualcomm executive vice president and general counsel Donald Rosenberg.

"We are very proud of the long-standing, mutually-beneficial relationships that we have enjoyed with the Korean wireless industry. The discounts and rebates which have been characterized as violating competition law were put in place for the benefit of Korean handset manufacturers."

The $208m ruling is among the larger antitrust penalties doled out to a tech firm in recent months. In May, Intel was fined €1.06bn for violating anti-trust laws in the EU. Microsoft's landmark 2004 antitrust fine weighed in at $1.6bn.