Qualcomm confirmed to have monopoly in China: report  

发改委已确定高通垄断事实 正调查销售数据

证券时报记者日前从接近发改委的消息人士处获悉，发改委已经确定了高通垄断事实，正在向中国公司调查高通的销售数据。此前的7月11日，美国高通公司总裁德里克·阿伯利就反垄断调查有关问题到国家发展改革委交换意见并接受调查询问。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- China's top economic planning body has confirmed that the US mobile chipmaker Qualcomm has a monopoly in China, and that its sales data is being probed, the Securities Times reported, citing unidentified sources.

"The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has paid much attention to the anti-monopoly investigation and sent 80 officers to probe Qualcomm and its customers," the newspaper cited sources near to it, saying "a large amount of files have been sealed."

Qualcomm President Derek Aberle communicated with the NDRC over issues relating to the investigation on July 11. This is the third time that senior managers have been subject to inquiries since the company was investigated last November.

On February 19, Xu Kunlin, head of the NDRC's price supervision and anti-monopoly bureau, said the investigation is against pricing-fixing by Qualcomm, which is accused of abusing its dominance in the wireless telecommunication copyright and cellphone chip markets.

It is accused of unfair and discriminatory prices with unreasonable conditions, according to the NDRC.

Normally, royalty payments are no more than 10 percent of a product's selling price. But manufacturers using Qualcomm chips have been asked to pay exorbitant patent fees.

Qualcomm is the world's largest manufacturer of wireless telecommunication products, holding 40 percent of the market in China and 30 percent in the world. In 2013, Qualcomm's revenue reaches $24.3 billion, with nearly half coming from China and $7.88 billion from patents.

Wei Shilin, a lawyer, said the accusation requires a large amount of evidence, which takes the NDRC a long time to investigate.