Qualcomm takes over Qualphone

Qualcomm, a wireless telecommunications research and development company based in San Diego, California has announced that it is buying another American company called Qualphone, paying $18 million cash.

Qualcomm is the inventor of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) phone technologies and has laboratories in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai where Indian engineers are helping the company to create tomorrow's TV-on-mobile-phone solutions.

On the other hand, Qualphone specializes in software for mobile devices, specifically Internet protocol-based multimedia subsystems. It focuses on providing high-quality 3G/IP multimedia mobile wireless embedded client solutions and Inter-Operability Testing (IOT) services to mobile terminal vendors, SoC companies and operators globally. The company leverages its smaller research team in Bangalore, India to deliver flagship products in the area of IMS (Internet Protocol-based Multimedia Systems).

Isaac Eteminan is president and chief executive officer of Qualphone, which has offices in Rancho Bernardo and fewer than 100 employees. According to him, “This acquisition is the logical outcome of Qualphone’s and Qualcomm’s common goal of simplifying the deployment of 3G services around the world.”

No reduction in head count is expected after the acquisition. The transaction was expected to complete by the end of the month.

As per asserted by the Qualcomm's India and SAARC President Kanwalinder Singh, with the coming together of the two companies, their Indian R&D teams will shortly grow together into an unbeatable combination of talents.

Mr. Singh was speaking in a special briefing on the occasion of the acquisition announcement made on Friday, in San Diego, California, which is home to both companies.

Qualcomm shares slipped $0.17 to $37.03 in recent trading.