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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (202)	7/4/2000 2:36:44 PM
From: SKIP PAUL	Respond to of 197444

Is there more to this? No there isn't IMO. Asian Govts are sensitive to balance of payment issues. Specially after going through the Asian financial crisis recently when the Korean WON was cut in half. The govt's ban of subsidies was primarily to boost exports and reduce domestic consumption of imported components of handsets.

To: John Biddle who wrote (202)	7/4/2000 2:47:29 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 197444

What I'd like to understand better is their recent ban on phone subsidies. Why did they do that? It hurts their own citizens who'll have to pay more for phones and hurts Korea by decreasing the proliferation of cellular within their borders. It's tough to tell for sure but I think that the subsidy ban may have been a result of internal politics. The trade surplus seems like a politically sensitive issue in Korea....and they were running WAY behind the government's initial forecast of $10B for the year 2000. Though the cell-phones are almost all made in Korea, many of the parts are imported.... Another reason that I read was that the constant upgrading of cell-phones was a "waste of resources". I read a couple of editorials that applauded the ban for this reason. What I cant figure out is why the cell-phone makers (Samsung!) arent screaming..... Slacker