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To: Ruffian who wrote (16786)	10/20/1998 10:34:00 AM
From: straight life	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Europe hit by U.S. over Net cell phone moves BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Monday the United States was ''very, very concerned'' that the European Union was moving to shut out U.S. manufacturers from its mobile phone market. Barshefsky, in Brussels to meet EU officials, told reporters Washington was examining ''a variety of WTO (World Trade Organization) issues that that gives rise to''. Her comments are the latest volley in a transatlantic battle over technical standards for the next generation of wireless communications, which will supply consumers with mobile phones that offer data services, moving video images and Internet access. The EU has been promoting an effort by European manufacturers to develop a common standard that will mimic the success of the existing GSM mobile phone standard. However, the United States is concerned that will make it prohibitively expensive for U.S. companies using different standards to operate or sell their products in the EU, Barshefsky told a news conference. ''We have urged the EU not to adopt exclusionary standards and instead let the (International Telecommunications Union) and other international fora look at this issue,'' she told reporters. Those bodies could either harmonize standards so that the U.S. companies are not harmed, or allow for multiple standards to operate in the EU as in the United States, she said. The ITU, a United Nations body, has already announced it will examine the question of global standards in this area. However, the effort has been complicated by the announcement by U.S. high-technology company Qualcomm Inc (QCOM - news) that it will not license key technologies to companies using the European-backed standard. It argues that the European standard would not be compatible with the one it supports. Barring an accord between the two camps, the ITU could not recommend the European standard as a global standard. (Reuters/Wired)