US upholds Qualcomm chip ban

HOPES THAT mobile phones with Qualcomm chips might be allowed into the US were dashed after the Bush administration refused to quash a US International Trade Commission ban.

According to Associated Press, the ITC banned imports of phones that run on Qualcomm chips, which put carriers such as Sprint Nextel and manufacturers like LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics in a bit of hot water.

The ban was because the ITC believed that Qualcomm infringed Broadcom's technology.

There was some possibility that the Bush administration might use its powers to intervene in the dispute. However US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said she was sticking to a long practice of declining to overrule unless conditions were "extraordinary."

Schwab said that most of the phone companies that use the phones had developed alternative products to avoid the ban. The Department of Homeland Security found insufficient justification for overturning the order on grounds that it would create problems for public safety agencies.

The ban applies to the high-speed EV-DO and WCDMA network technologies.

More </>.