David Hanak Tech giant Qualcomm will have to pay a huge fine imposed by the European Commission for violating European competition rules. According to her findings, Qualcomm bribed Apple so that the company would install their LTE modems in its iPhones and iPads. Open competition on the market was significantly affected by this action, and competing companies were thus unable to materialize. The fine was assessed at 997 million euros, i.e. more than 25 billion crowns.
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Ondrej Holzman Today, the Commissioner for the Protection of Competition, Margrethe Vestager, presented the justification, according to which Qualcomm paid Apple fees for not using LTE modems from other manufacturers. If it was simply a reduction in the purchase price, given the large take-up, the European Commission would not have a problem with that. In essence, however, it was a bribe by which Qualcomm committed itself to a certain exclusive position within the offer of these chipsets for mobile data.
Qualcomm was supposed to have engaged in this behavior between 2011 and 2016, and for five years, equal competition in this segment basically did not work and competing companies could not gain ground (especially Intel, which had an eminent interest in the supply of LTE modems). The above-mentioned fine represents roughly 5% of Qualcomm's annual turnover for 2017. It also comes at an inconvenient time, as Qualcomm is fighting on the one hand with Apple (which is seeking $2015 billion in compensation for unauthorized patent payments) and on the other fears a possible hostile takeover of the business by its major competitor Broadcom. It is not yet clear how Qualcomm will deal with this fine. The European Commission investigation began in mid-XNUMX.
Source: Reuters
So has there been any trial and evidence presented etc.? I admit that I only skimmed the source website in a hurry, and that I am (perhaps not always justified) allergic to anything that comes out of the European Commission. It's not just that the European Commission has an impression, and based on that it has the power to decide on a fine, isn't it...?