Complaint against Qualcomm filed

‘‘Uncertainly always pressures valuations,’’ said Charter Equity analyst Ed Snyder, adding, ‘‘It seems unlikely that the EU is the venue that can change the history of licensing agreements with Qualcomm’’.

A UK-based spokesman for Qualcomm declined to comment and the US officials were not immediately available on Friday. The company’s shares were down $1.95 at $41.08 in early afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

The wireless technology firms, which also include Broadcom Corp, Panasonic Mobile Communications and NEC Corp, accused Qualcomm of trying to exclude rivals from the market for chips based on a high-speed wireless standard being used in phones in Europe and other parts of the world.

Broadcom is pursuing a similar case in the US. The firms allege Qualcomm had offered preferential terms on royalties of technology patents to manufacturers which also bought their chipsets — the hardware inside a mobile phone.

‘‘The companies believe Qualcomm’s anti-competitive behaviour has harmful effects for the mobile telecommunications sector in Europe, as well as elsewhere, because carriers and consumers are facing higher prices and fewer choices,’’ they said in a statement.

They alleged Qualcomm overcharged for patent royalties in their complaint to the European Commission (EC), which enforces competition rules in the 25-nation European Union.

Harris Nesbitt analyst John Bucher said he had not seen the complaints but that it was not obvious that the companies had a strong anti-competition case.

‘‘If the complaint is that they’re charging one company a higher royalty rate than another that does not appear to me to be anti-competitive. That’s symptomatic of licensing practices in a number of technology industries,’’ he said. EC spokesman Jonathan Todd said the agency would examine the complaints. — Reuters