Teletimes April 2011.pdf

have invested more than $16
billion just in R&D.
Qualcomm’s business model
promotes competition and
fosters continuous innovation
and growth. This benefits the
entire wireless industry by
enabling more new players to
enter the market.
We have licensed over 190
companies for CDMA, over 115
companies for WCDMA /TD
SCDMA and have 9 royalty
bearing OFDM /OFDMA
single mode subscriber
and infrastructure
licensees.
TT - Now that we
better understand
what Qualcomm is
about, can you please
shed some more light
on Qualcomm’s chipset
solutions?
RK - Qualcomm’s chipset
solutions address the needs
of both the emerging and the
developed markets. On one
end, the mobile devices based
on Qualcomm chipsets enable
extremely affordable feature
rich phones for the mass
markets in the emerging parts
of the world like Pakistan and
on the other end, our solution
enable highly integrated
Smartphones starting with 1GHz
single core processors to Quad
core processors each operating
at processing speeds of 2.5
Gigahertz per core.
Qualcomm’s SoC (system on
chip) solutions integrate CPUs,
GPUs (Graphics), modems,
audio, video, GPS and wireless
capabilities as well as firmware
In a nut
shell, Qualcomm
is a technology
development company
and a value chain
enabler.
and software drivers.
The high level of integration
allows Qualcomm to optimize
the system level performance
and power consumption,
and ensures best possible
performance of mobile devices.
The complete SoC solution
reduces development time and
cost.
Qualcomm ships over 400
Million chipsets per month for
the mobile devices and to date
has shipped over 7 billion chips.
Its chipsets support multiple
high level operating systems
including Windows Mobile
/ Phone 7 and Android, etc.
Over 750 device designs used
Qualcomm chipsets in just 2010
and more than 130 Android
devices (Smartphones and
Tablets) launched by various
vendors are supported by
Qualcomm chipsets. Qualcomm
is the first company in the
world to deliver true 3G/4G
multimode chipsets.
TT - What potential do you
see in Pakistan for wireless
communications in general
and mobile broadband in
particular?
RK - Pakistan witnessed
tremendous growth in the
mobile sector when the two new
licenses were auctioned over
five years ago. However, the
growth has been pretty much
stagnant for the last couple
of years due to the currently
deployed 2G technology that
does not allow for providing
high bandwidth data intensive
value added services and
applications which is the need
of the hour. The ARPUs have
declined to very low levels
as the operators do not have
much to compete upon except
lowering the tariffs on thir
voice / SMS packages. This has
resulted in a price war eroding
operator’s margins.
There is a large segment of the
population in Pakistan that is
interested in accessing Internet
on the mobile phones but so
far the high tariffs along with
poor data speeds and the higher
device prices have limited the
uptake of data services. This
is all set to change with the
introduction of 3G technology in
Pakistan.
The need for Internet
connectivity is obvious. The
user demand for data is on
a continuous rise globally
including Pakistan. Consumers
are willing to pay much higher
prices for the access to data
services than for voice. Access
to data on the go goes a step
further in terms of subscribers’
willingness to pay a premium
for the broadband that comes
with mobility. Laptops, tablets
and Smartphones are replacing
desktop computers as they
provide ubiquitous connectivity
regardless of the user location.
The immense focus on education
and the tech savvy younger
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