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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (117040)	10/17/2003 12:24:00 PM
From: Neeka	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

We will see how effective IJ can be in convincing those who control the political strings to use GSM1x. At this point it seems QUALCOMM's only option. M Iraq: CDMA Backlash by Tony Dennis, ITU Telecom World 2003 On-Line News Service Was the bidding process fixed? Allegations of technological bias towards GSM surrounding the tendering process for mobile network licences in Iraq have resurfaced once again. They first appeared when US Congressman Darrell Issa called GSM an “outdated French technology”. Talking to the Financial Times, Jonathan Spalter, a spokesman for Liberty Mobile -- a CDMA-focussed consortium, claimed, “The assertion that the competition was technology neutral is patently false in the extreme.” This accusation has generated a furious reaction from within the GSM Association. Spalter’s core gripe is that “The [bidding] process was designed to exclude CDMA from the beginning.” The three licences all went to GSM-based operators. However, GSM has been provided with support from two unexpected quarters -- Qualcomm and Samsung. At ITU Telecom World 2003 Geneva, Qualcomm chairman Dr Irwin Jacobs pointed to his company’s GSM1x technology. A dual-mode (cdmaOne and GSM) handset -- the QTP6300 -- has successfully completed trials with China Unicom, showing that roaming between CDMA -- and GSM-based 2G networks is possible using GSM1x technology. Kyocera has already announced the world’s first GSM1x handset, the KZ850. Dr Jacobs speculated that another exhibitor, Samsung, would also launch a GSM1x-based handset as soon as December 2003 in Korea. Both Samsung and LG Electronics are showing dual-mode 3G handsets (W-CDMA and CDMA2000). Soonho Hong, executive vice president with Samsung Electronics, told the Show Daily, “Operators should be free to choose any technology they like.” Samsung was part of the Liberty Mobile consortium along with Lucent Technologies and Qualcomm. The CDMA lobby is now targeting another Middle Eastern country, this time Jordan. A public notice recently issued by the Jordanian Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) was asking for bidders for a third mobile licence in that country. The statement calls for technology-neutral bids and offers spectrum in both the 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz bands, which potentially opens the way for a CDMA-based network. However, Mickael Ghossein, CEO with Mobilecom (which is the only existing Jordanian operator besides Fastlink), told The Saudi Gazette that “this market is already overloaded.” Rob Conway, CEO with the GSM Association, responded to Spalter comments saying, “The CPA tendering process was technology-neutral -- it was not a technology beauty contest. It was about delivering low-cost mobile communications services to the Iraqi population in the shortest possible time.” Conway pointed out that the CPA’s objectives are available to everyone on its web site. It states, “The prime selection criteria will be value for money and satisfying the needs of Iraq.” Another factor that went against CDMA was speed. The requirement was for all three networks to be rolled out within 20 days, but the spectrum in question was 900 MHz. As Conway maintains, “The GSMA has not been able to find any examples of CDMA in any of its forms being commercially deployed anywhere in the world in the 900 MHz band.” According to the FT report, however, an unnamed US official claims the Iraqi Ministry of Communications is undertaking “a comprehensive technology roadmap” which could include frequencies more favourable to CDMA. The GSM Association is clearly unhappy at being portrayed as the bad guy. “There is absolutely no evidence that GSM stifles competition. Markets with multiple GSM operators generally have significantly higher mobile penetration than those in which CDMA dominates. The US is a classic example,” Conway told The Show Daily. itudaily.com