Not much is known openly about royalty rates charged by Qualcomm for its 3G and LTE shipments. The secrecy about the royalty rates has been a Qualcomm trademark and the royalty method adopted by the company has come in for criticism in the past as well.

But in a surprise move, The Street reports that Qualcomm COO, Len Lauer revealed on the occasion of a Merrill Lynch Global Technology Conference on June 03 that the company normally charges 4%-5 % as royalty for 3G shipments.

The COO further revealed that the company had put royalty rate at 3.25 % when it was asked by European standards group to submit a rate for LTE.