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To: Harvey Rosenkrantz who wrote (20461)	12/28/1998 1:13:00 PM
From: Jim Lurgio	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

I grabbed this off another thread. ==== 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]

To: Harvey Rosenkrantz who wrote (20461)	12/28/1998 2:05:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

"However what action should be taken against countries or regions that agree to such policies and then take contrary action either with tariffs or non tariff barriers?" None! There seems no reason to take any action against people happily going about their business if they aren't attacking you or stealing your property. If people want to buy from me, fine, if they don't fine! Why should I do mean things to them because they don't want to buy my products? Since they have a big pile of promises from me [the promises being called dollars] since I took delivery of cars, Sony phones, and some Sushi Seaweed, it is up to them to choose from the range of stuff I produce. If there is nothing I produce that they want, then they were real suckers for taking delivery of my money in exchange for really neat cars and electronics. I'll pay them 7% interest on that money while printing more of it to sneakily whittle away its value over time. These days, with productive efficiency improving by leaps and bounds, I can print money quite quickly and they don't notice because prices don't go up, so they think there is no inflation. If they put tariffs on products, which means they charge their people a tax if they want to buy my products, then that is their people's problem, not mine. It's better if politicians get out of the way and let people trade freely, but if they don't, that is a problem for the country concerned to deal with their obtuse politicians who are damaging their interests. Trade negotiations by government officials are a waste of money and just another way for them to stick their greedy snouts in the trough filled by taxpayers. All they can do is penalize their own populations by stopping them buying what they want to. They hold big jamborees in exotic locations with big lunches, big hotel rooms and big limousines. They pontificate away and come away with some deal which they think is really a wonderful achievement. "Hey! We'll let people in our country buy and sell stuff to people in your country provided you do the same." "Not so fast!" says the other politician. "If we agree just like that, then the meeting will be over and we'll be back in front of the voters who will see our big fat guts full of food from their hard-earned tax dollars. It's winter back home too. So how about we draw up a schedule of products and we should put some tariffs, duties, sales taxes and standardized specifications on them too?" "Oh, I don't know about that." Says politician number one, who has read books on negotiation and knows that nothing should be given away too quickly. "Let's have dinner and discuss things over a port or two?" "Well, okay", agrees suspicious fat-gutted politician number two. They call a press conference and announce, "After the first day of hard negotiations we will adjourn for dinner and continue the next day. Negotiations have been frank, useful, exhaustive and exhausting but there are very many difficult and complex details to be considered before any agreements can be signed." So they form banana bend specification committees, beer foam standardization and monitoring bureaux, SETI to get wireless standards standardized, diesel fuel quality definitions, standardization and performance control... blah blah blah. Gregg talked about the MAD policies of military intelligence. This is the trade equivalent. Like the mad military, there are all sorts of committees, negotiations, big salaries, offices and fun to be had. The trade people enjoy having making schedules, having 'negotiations', inventing rules, dealing with important people in other countries, eating lunch and playing golf, while the military like to play chasey in boats, planes and tanks and go 'pyow, pyow - your dead!' in 'manoeuvres'. Mummy says, "Now, now you silly boys. No throwing sand and try to play nicely. Here, why don't you see if you can build a nice big sandcastle together?" Mqurice