Qualcomm to appeal European Commission’s €242 million fine for ‘predatory pricing’ of 3G chipsets

The European Commission has issued an antitrust fine of 242 million Euros ($USD 272 million) on Qualcomm for engaging in "predatory pricing''. The Commission opened its formal investigation on 16 July 2015 and the fine has been issued as Qualcomm abused its market dominance in 3G baseband chipsets with the aim of forcing its competitor 'Icera' out of the market. Qualcomm held a dominant position in the global market for UMTS baseband chipset between 2009 and 2011, with high market shares of approximately 60%. Although market dominance is not illegal as such  under EU antitrust rules, Qualcomm abused this dominance between mid-2009 and mid-2011 by engaging in “predatory pricing” and the company sold certain quantities of three of its UMTS chipsets below cost to Huawei and ZTE, with the intention of eliminating Icera, who was emerging as a viable competitor. The Commission concluded that Qualcomm's conduct had a significant detrimental impact on competition and it prevented Icera from competing in the market. Qualcomm was quick to reply to this and has now issued an official statement. Qualcomm has said that it plans to appeal the finding to the General Court of the European Union and intends to provide a financial guarantee in lieu of paying the fine ...