Lucent Defends 3G Standards Chief
By Sheridan Nye
30-JUN-98 (Total Telecom)
Lucent Technologies has reacted angrily on behalf of one of its senior executives following accusations by Ericsson that he tried to influence US policy on third generation mobile standards on behalf of his employer.
Ericsson Inc's vice president of government relations, John Giere, claimed the chair of the T1 committee, Gerald Peterson, had attempted to block wideband-CDMA from being included in the committee's recommendation to the US State Department. Peterson's action was a "flagrant abuse" of committee procedures and was designed to favor cdmaOne, the technology backed by his employer, Lucent, above the technology backed by Ericsson, Nokia and others.
"We're stunned by Ericsson's misrepresentation of the proceedings within the T1 committee," said a spokesman for Lucent. The characterisation of Peterson was "flatly untrue," he added.
On the contrary, Lucent said, Ericsson's complaints were designed to undermine the committee on the eve of a series of meetings with the European Telecom Standards Institute. The committee voted last week to set up a working group with ETSI to harmonize 3G proposals in Europe and the US. The group will also consider interoperability issues for Internet telephony as well as business and legal agreements.
"Ericsson is engaging in precisely the behavior it decries," claimed the Lucent spokesman.
As chair of the committee, Peterson has no mandate to take unilateral decisions, he said.
In the event, the four recommendations to the State Department made by T1 and the Telecoms Industry Association included both cdmaOne and W-CDMA. The others are TDMA 2000 and a new proposal based on wireless local loop technology called WIMS.
US policy is likely to reflect the two bodies' recommendations and all four will be put forward to the International Telecommunication Union for inclusion under its IMT 2000 banner for 3G standards.
In a statement, Peterson said: "I was disappointed to read remarks in a press release from a member of the T1 committee that may undermine T1's negotiating position just on the onset of discussions with ETSI. In the tradition of full openness and membership decision-making, I will continue to provide the members and leaders of T1 will my views, knowledge and advice."
"Lucent continues to support the IMT 2000 for all regions of the world," said the spokesman. |
