RCR Wireless News reports that the US switch to digital television signals will be delayed until 12 June under legislation that cleared Congress this week and now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature into law, a move that looks set to cost Qualcomm heavily. The bill delaying the changeover to June from 17 February cleared the US House of Representatives in a 264-158 vote and followed Senate passage last month. However, it means mobile operators such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless will have to wait longer to receive the 700MHz spectrum they won last year in an auction. The 700MHz spectrum is being freed up via the move from analogue to digital TV in the US and will be used by both operators to launch LTE services.

More seriously affected though could be Qualcomm. Last month, the chip-maker warned it could lose “tens of millions of dollars” from any delay. Qualcomm was one of the big spenders in last year’s auction, buying spectrum for US$550 million to roll-out its MediaFLO mobile TV platform. Dow Jones Newswires reported last month that Qualcomm has invested in equipment and fees to TV broadcasters (in addition to the US$550 million spent in the auction) on the assumption that it could launch MediaFLO services this month, targeting more than 100 US markets by the end of this year. RCR Wireless News noted yesterday the following latest comments from Qualcomm: “We are disappointed with the passage of legislation extending the DTV transition date to 12 June. Due to the investments we made, we were ready for a 17 February transition to provide our innovative FLO TV service nationwide immediately. We are encouraged that several congressmen and Senators who supported the delay stated that this would be a one-time delay only. In light of the fact that the legislation, as amended and finally passed by Congress, allows TV stations to transition voluntarily between now and June 12th, we cannot determine the specific impact of the final bill’s passage on our MediaFLO business.”