Behind the "Subterranean Ball Game"
An unauthorized look behind the scenes of brewing 3G standards battle
By Ben D. Hover
AMSTERDAM, June 8th - As Europe, the Americas, and Asia prepare to submit 3G proposals to the International Telecommunications Union this summer, a dark cloud has gathered around the future of W-CDMA in the European community.
The European standards body so far has resisted efforts to converge the two CDMA-based proposals, and it is unclear what steps are needed to leave the proposal open to cdmaOne. Qualcomm has notified ETSI of its IPR position, and is not willing to license the core technologies unless the current W-CDMA proposal is made backwards compatible with cdmaOne. Despite Qualcomm's position, Ericsson has a strong influence in Europe, according to sources that could also confirm the exchange of "soft" money. A spokesperson at ETSI declined to comment on the situation, saying the issue was ''extremely delicate and sensitive.''
One ETSI official agreed to speak off-the-record at a bar establishment in neutral territory, far away from the battlefield. "It is very tense. Ericsson thinks they have a fallback position that does not rely on Qualcomm's IPRs. Nobody dares question motives, including myself, with a daughter working as a telecommunications specialist with the firm. After all, it is a major undertaking to try to steal an American company's intellectual property rights so that the European Ministers can sleep better at night knowing their calls can't easily be intercepted by hackers. But there is also the underlying need to keep the European Union economically afloat, especially in the beginning of the new century, or at least until blasted ol' England comes into the fold. One way to do this is create infrastructure standards that rely somewhat on American intellectual property and then assimilate these rights gradually. European Ministers credit learning the technique from a rich American software guru." After a few more beers, it became clearer there is more at stake than a global 3G standard.
A spokesperson for Ericsson declined to comment. However, two high ranking officials agreed to talk off the record. "Protectionism has camouflaged meaning. On one level, you can protect your existing investments. On another, you can protect your future income potential from competitors. As long as the issue is obfuscated, it will look like the other party will be guilty of protectionism." Another executive said that the standards debate was healthy because ultimately the consumer will decide what technology they will want to use. "Obviously, the operator plays a small role in deciding what technology to implement, and must compete with other operators constrained by their cost structure. As long as the GSM operator cost structure remains low enough, then GSM operator investments will be protected from the competition that can handle higher call volume at lower subscriber prices. The way to do this is artificially increase the competitior's technology cost structure. Barriers to entry is one of the hallmarks of capitalism." Neither would comment on Ericsson's reported ability to work around Qualcomm's IPRs.
In the United States, Qualcomm said that it is practicing diplomacy to build support by framing an easily obfuscated technical issue in a way that will have broad bipartisan appeal to those who support the policy of defending and exploiting America's technological edge in the global market. Qualcomm hopes that it can rally the U.S. administration behind supporting trade sanctions in response to the anticipated and blatant disrespect of intellectual property rights.
No one from the company cared to comment at length off the record. Even the lure of the Amersterdam's nightlife couldn't evoke a response from even the most outgoing officials. When asked why one official couldn't make the trip, he replied "we're too busy defining Ericsson out of the CDMA market."
(Time for one more beer...) |
