In brief
After a two-and-a-half year investigation, the European Commission has imposed a €997 million fine on Qualcomm for 'illegally shutting out rivals' from the market for LTE baseband chipsets using significant payments to an important customer, Apple, in return for exclusivity. The EC's decision is further confirmation that abuse of dominance cases are at the top of the EC's enforcement agenda following so close on the heels of the €2.4 billion fine imposed on Google in the Google Search case last summer.