WASHINGTON-U.S. manufacturers have begun mounting a counter offensive to what they see as a European-led, anticompetitive effort to restrict global wireless standards for third generation pocket phones.
The controversy surfaced as International Telecommunication Union members developed recommendations on which technology or technologies should drive wireless telecommunications in the 21st century.
The European Commission, representing an influential bloc within the ITU, leans toward a single standard. Today, European nations are tied to the digital Global System for Mobile communications standard that succeeded analog cellular technology. Two major GSM pocket phone suppliers come from the EU: Ericsson Inc., of Sweden, and Nokia Corp., of Finland.
American manufacturers believe parochial competitive interests determine EU wireless standardization policy.
“There is no restraint of competition,” said Trajco Gavrilov, a regulatory lawyer specializing in fixed and wireless services at the Geneva-based ITU. Gavrilov said third generation wireless standard recommendations will be issued in two years and stressed that countries are not bound to them.
Japan, too, wants a single standard for third generation pocket phones. But the country’s focus appears more shaped by industrial policy than by commercial factors.
In the United States, policymakers favor letting the marketplace dictate technology choices rather than having the federal government do it.
Yet, there is still debate over which approach works best for business and consumers.
The cellular industry is divided between Time Division Multiple Access and Code Division Multiple Access digital technologies.
The emerging personal communications services industry, representing second generation wireless technology, has six standards (including two European-based) from which to choose. Now the United States wants Europe to reciprocate.
“So far, we’ve been stonewalled,” said Eric Schimmel, vice president of the Telecommunications Industry Association.
If technical standards for third-generation phones are limited, CDMA proponents like Qualcomm Inc.-which pioneered the technology-and Lucent Technologies Inc.-the manufacturing spinoff of AT&T Corp.-would be hit hard.
“Lucent Technologies and Bell Laboratories (the research and development arm of Lucent) are long-standing supporters and active participants in the standardization process,” said Brian Bolliger, technical manager for wireless systems engineering at Lucent.
“The products we market adhere to the prevailing standards in each of our markets around the world,” he said. “For example, in North America CDMA and TDMA have won overwhelming acceptability as the preferred technologies among our customers.
“While our product portfolio includes GSM systems,” added Bolliger, “we don’t accept the premise that GSM is necessarily the de facto global standard for the next millennium. Increasingly, we are finding that newer technologies are gaining acceptance around the world, and ought to have fair hearing. Fortunately, our system architecture is such that we’re in a good position to help customers preserve the capital investment they’ve already made.”
Yet, based on the technology most prevalent around the world, GSM is the de factor international wireless standard.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s board of directors recently adopted a strong statement of support for market-driven wireless technologies in the global arena.
“CTIA believes that all technologies should be available for use in the wireless spectrum of all nations,” said Thomas Wheeler, president of CTIA.
The board said, “The diversity of technologies available today enables wireless licensees to match a technology to their business plan, using both international and domestic vendors.”
