The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission has concluded its antitrust investigation into Qualcomm's, and the result is bad news.

Besides huge fines on Qualcomm's monopolistic practice and the outfit will be forced to lower licensing fees, and ditch its so-called "reverse patent licence." The reverse patent licence is a compulsory agreement that Qualcomm imposed on its clients to lift their patent fees to each other.

Under the agreement, any smartphone makers that use Qualcomm's chips must "authorise their patent rights to Qualcomm,” and are not allowed to collect any relevant patent royalties from other Qualcomm clients. The watchdog feels that this practice has shielded the interests of mobile makers with less patent rights, and should be deemed as unfair.

This will help ZTE and Huawei, which hold a substantial amount of mobile-related patents in the country. ZTE's patent total has exceeded 52,000 patents worldwide, while Huawei's total patent portfolio numbered over 30,000 by November this year. Without an adequate patent library, smartphone manufacturers making budget handsets will see pressure mount in patent-related costs.

ZTE hinted it should enjoy more patent dividends, indicating that the patent competitions among Chinese smartphone makers have just started. Huawei, on the other hand, stated clearly that it will not head to the courts on the issue in the future.