Qualcomm hit with $208m anti-trust fine

Qualcomm is to appeal against the decision in South Korea

Telecoms chip giant Qualcomm has been hit with a $208m (£126m) fine in South Korea for violating anti-trust laws.

South Korean officials ruled that the company had acted in violation of anti-trust laws with its pricing for CDMA chipsets. Qualcomm had provided favourable prices to vendors that did not use components from rival firms.

The ruling concludes a three-year legal battle which began with complaints filed by rival firms Texas Instruments and Broadcom. Other anti-trust 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.

"The decision appears to have ignored or discounted evidence presented by Qualcomm and its Korean customers which 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 characterised as violating competition law were put in place for the benefit of Korean handset manufacturers."

The $208m fine is among the larger anti-trust penalties doled out to a tech firm in recent months. Intel was fined €1.06bn (£948m) in May for violating anti-trust laws in the European Union, while Microsoft's landmark 2004 fine weighed in at $1.6bn (£972m).