The Eur opean Commission on Thursday opened two antitrust investigations to determine whether Qualcomm engaged in abusive behaviour in its supply of 3G and 4G chipsets for mobile phones and tablets.
The first will probe Qualcomm’s selling tactics with regard to certain 3G and LTE chipsets for smartphones and tablets. The Commission will examine whether Qualcomm abused its dominant position in the market by offering buyers financial incentives in return for exclusively using its baseband chipsets.
The second investigation is centred on pricing practices. Specifically, it will seek to determine whether Qualcomm sold 3G chipsets for mobile connectivity at below cost with a view to freezing out competition.
"We are launching these investigations because we want to be sure that high tech suppliers can compete on the merits of their products," said EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in a statement.
"Many customers use electronic devices such as a mobile phone or a tablet and we want to ensure that they ultimately get value for money," she said.
The Commission said it has no legal deadline to complete its investigations.
