Mobile phone sales boost earnings for Qualcomm

Qualcomm Inc. posted a 5% increase in fiscal first-quarter profit Wednesday, driven by strong sales of mobile phones that offer speedier Internet downloads.

The wireless communications company earned $648 million, or 38 cents a share, in the period ended Dec. 31, up from $620 million, or 36 cents, in the same period last year.

Excluding some one-time items, Qualcomm earned 43 cents a share, a penny more than the consensus estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Revenue jumped 16% to $2.02 billion, up from $1.74 billion.

San Diego-based Qualcomm designs and sells chips that are the brains for many mobile phones sold worldwide.

It is embroiled in legal and regulatory disputes over claims by other equipment makers that the company charges excessive royalties for rights to use its technology.

Steve Altman, Qualcomm’s president, warned that the company would incur hefty legal costs to defend itself against what he called an unprecedented attack on its business practices.

“These attacks go to the heart of our business model, and we feel quite strongly that it is money well spent,” he said.

Qualcomm shares rose 49 cents to $38.62 in regular trading and added 58 cents in after-hours activity.

For its fiscal second quarter, Qualcomm projected a profit of 42 to 44 cents a share, compared with analyst estimates of 43 cents. It estimated revenue of $2 billion to $2.1 billion. Analysts are expecting $2.1 billion.

The company reaffirmed its earlier estimates for 2007 revenue and profit.