The "Shit" Is Starting To Fly>
EU rejects US complaints over 'radio war' Differences
between US and European mobile phone manufacturers
could prove the catalyst for another US/EU trade dispute,
writes Eoin Licken
The Irish Times
Responding to a letter sent in December from the
US administration, the EU Telecommunications
Commissioner, Mr Martin Bangemann, said
earlier this week he firmly rejected US claims of
potential European access barriers for third generation (3G) mobile
communications.
The US letter, signed by the Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, US
trade representative Ms Charlene Barshefsky, the US Secretary of
Commerce, Mr William Daley and the chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission, Mr William Kennard, had expressed concern
at "the unfortunate precedents the EU and its member-states could set by
adopting a single, mandatory standard for wireless equipment and services".
Ms Barshefsky's office on Wednesday said Mr Bangemann's response "fell
short of addressing several specific US concerns".
However, the US did welcome what it saw as EU support for the efforts of
the UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to agree new
standards for the next generation of mobile networks.
Nevertheless, Ms Barshefsky said: "In accordance with Europe's WTO
commitments, EU member-states should now license and assign radio
spectrum to the maximum number of service providers without regard to
technology, based on standards that emerge from the ITU negotiations."'
The ITU is due to select a third-generation standard - or set of standards -
by March 31st. However, the British government last November announced
its intention to auction licences later this year.
The European Technical Standards Institute (ETSI), based in Nice, France,
last year chose a single third-generation mobile standard, called Universal
Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). A European Parliament and
Council of Telecommunications decision on December 14th requires
member-states to prepare national licensing regimes by January 1st, 2000,
to allow the co-ordinated introduction of UMTS service by January 1st,
2002. Mr Bangemann rejected US concerns that a single standard was
chosen which would prevent American firms with technology based on other
standards selling equipment in Europe. He said the EU's decision "does not
define any technological content nor does it establish UMTS as an exclusive
standard". Third-generation mobile telephony promises many improvements
over the current generation of cellular telephony. Faster data channels will
allow Internet access from mobile phones, as well as multimedia capabilities,
such as video conferencing.
One of the primary aims is to achieve global roaming, which will require
agreement on standards. Currently the GSM system developed in Europe is
used in more than 100 countries, but is not widespread in the US. This
means users of GSM phones can make and receive calls while travelling
around Europe and Asia, for example, but not in the US.
The adoption of different standards in the US has contributed to a feeling
that US firms missed out in GSM technology. Finnish manufacturer
[ Nokia ] recently overtook Chicago-based Motorola as the world's biggest
mobile equipment supplier (largest revenues from sales of handsets and
network equipment), while Sweden's Ericsson has also fared well since the
introduction of GSM.
Japanese firms are also concerned about getting a share of 3G technology.
Japan has both GSM and US-type second-generation cellular networks, but
is involved in the UMTS standardisation. NTT DoCoMo, the largest cellular
operator in the world prior to the Vodafone-AirTouch takeover, plans to be
the first to start a UMTS network, in 2001.
The extent of US concerns is highlighted by the unprecedented signing of the
letter to Mr Bangemann by four high-ranking officials, and by another letter
sent to US President Bill Clinton by Republican opposition leaders.
However, attempting to sidestep the issue, Mr Bangemann said it was up to
industry, not policy-makers to decide, saying the EU did not, and would not,
interfere in such an industry-led process. He expressed "surprise that the US
government seems to be asking for regulatory intervention in an industry-led
process" and said the real issue seemed to be about intellectual property
rights.
One of the central issues in the US-EU dispute has been disagreement over
patent royalties between San Diego-based Qualcomm and Ericsson of
Sweden. Qualcomm holds several patents on what it claims is the core
technology used in UMTS, but Ericsson feels the current standard is based
on wider work and does not infringe Qualcomm's intellectual property rights.
Another central issue is the need for third-generation mobile networks to be
compatible with existing networks, so that third-generation phones will still
work where there is no third-generation network coverage.
While UMTS will achieve this with current GSM networks, the mix of
second-generation networks in the US means UMTS could not achieve
so-called "backward compatibility" there. Hence the US is pushing for either
multiple standards, or for a harmonisation of UMTS with US
third-generation standards.
Nevertheless, while Mr Bangemann has not precluded multiple
third-generation standards being used in Europe, Mr Bold said early
European support for UMTS would have a "tipping effect on other
markets". He said Qualcomm's patents could block the process until the
impasse over radio standards is resolved.
(Copyright 1999) |
