I grabbed this off another thread.
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U.S.-European Sparks Over Latest 3G Developments
December 28, 1998
COMMUNICATIONS TODAY via NewsEdge Corporation -- High-ranking U.S. officials are pleading the case for permitting multiple third-generation (3G) wireless technologies in European Union (EU) member countries to the EU's top regulator overseeing economic competition.
It was the latest indication that the Western European and Scandinavian nations will not allow the development of 3G systems based on cdma2000, the proposed wideband technology that Qualcomm Inc. [QCOM] has been championing with the backing of the U.S. government.
"We are seeking specific assurances from European governments that U.S. industry will be able to deploy competing 3G technologies and services in Europe," U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said.
Washington views the long-simmering dispute with the EU over 3G as a " question of basic fairness in telecommunications trade," she said. European and U.S. representatives made no headway in breaking the deadlock over whether the EU will permit one or more 3G standards during a meeting in Charlotte, N.C., last month.
In a letter to European Commission chief Martin Bangemann, the U.S. officials said that companies backing a 3G technology other than cdma2000 should not be given a head start in terms of deployment early in the 21st century in EU countries. They are most concerned about a version of wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), whose proponents include the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and such wireless manufacturers as Nokia Corp. [NOK/A] and L.M. Ericsson AB [ERICY].
The fact that four senior officials -- Commerce Secretary William Daley, Secretary of State Madeline Albright, FCC Chairman Bill Kennard and Barshefsky -- signed the letter to Bangemann constitutes "an important demonstration of the [Clinton] Administration's unwavering commitment to creating access to Europe's wireless market for all technology standards," said Gregory Williams, chairman of the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium (UWCC). UWCC, which represents the interests of vendors and network operators that use U.S.-developed IS-136 TDMA technology, has proposed UWC-136 as its 3G standard.
The European Commission issued a decision recently that "appears to prohibit the operation within Europe" of any 3G standard other than Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) technology, Kennard said. After extensive negotiations among Ericsson, Nokia and the other principal vendors of GSM wireless infrastructure, ETSI a year ago officially adopted UMTS as its proposal for submission to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which must forge the consensus on a single, global 3G standard harmonizing elements of current-generation wireless technologies.
The ITU has had no luck in getting Ericsson or Qualcomm to soften their respective positions on intellectual property rights (IPRs). Qualcomm claims it holds IPRs that are essential to the development of W-CDMA. Meanwhile, Ericsson has announced plans to work with local operators and potential 3G licensees on W-CDMA technology trials in three key EU markets: Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
On a general level, the GSM community -- along with key Japanese players like NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. [NTT] -- has been pushing W-CDMA as its 3G migration path; Qualcomm and the IS-95 CDMA community regard cdma2000 in the same light. UWCC has discussed ways
to combine its TDMA-based UWC-136 proposal with W-CDMA.
Early this month, the ITU threatened to exclude all CDMA-based 3G proposals, including W-CDMA and cdma2000, from consideration as its preferred global standard. The Geneva-based arm of the United Nations hopes to declare key characteristics for 3G standardization by the end of next March, in line with its timetable for developing final recommendations on 3G issues by the end of next year.
The letter to Bangemann also cited upcoming 3G spectrum auctions as a problem. These auctions, scheduled to take place in 1999 in several EU nations, will serve to effectively exclude non-European manufacturers from gaining early access to the countries in question in any 3G deployments, the U.S. officials said.
[Copyright 1998, Phillips Publishing] |
