The EU Commission has inflicted on Qualcomm, a US telecommunications company, a fine of 997 million euros for abuse of a dominant position on the 'chipset' market, integrated circuits, LTE baseband, which allow smartphones and tablets to connect to mobile networks. According to Brussels, the Qualcomm group has prevented competitors from competing on the market by paying substantial sums to Apple provided that the latter does not obtain supplies from the same competitors.
"Qualcomm illegally drove its competitors out of the 'chipset' market for more than five years by consolidating its dominant position by paying billions of dollars to a major customer, Apple," he explained the European Commissioner for Antitrust Margrethe Vestager. The goal was that Apple "not source from Qualcomm's competitors: these payments were not just simple price reductions but were made on the condition that Apple used only Qualcomm's baseband 'chipsets' in all iPhone and iPad products ”.
