Some Telecommunications Industry Association members and U.S. carriers were angered last week by comments attributed to a TIA senior executive by the French Press Agency. The incident illustrates the continuing technology holy wars and brings to surface concerns a few large members have about the expansion of the trade association internationally.
Ericsson Inc. and the Universal Wireless Communications Consortium sent letters to TIA President Matthew Flanigan, protesting comments attributed to TIA Vice President of International Affairs Eric Nelson about Code Division Multiple Access technology’s superiority over Time Division Multiple Access-based standards. Members were upset that TIA appeared to stray away from its traditional technology-neutral position.
Flanigan said Nelson was misquoted. The standards body issued a press release clarifying Nelson’s comments.
The French Press Agency, which could not be reached for comment, was reporting from China on the country’s plans to allow commercialization of CDMA technology. It cited Nelson as saying he believed CDMA would become the technology of choice because CDMA had better upgradability and sound quality than Global System for Mobile communications technology, based on the TDMA concept.
“CDMA offers a ‘natural progression to the third generation,'” the article quoted Nelson as saying.
“TIA and all its senior staff realize we are technology neutral,” said Flanigan. “We never make comparisons. It’s not our job. The marketplace must decide.”
TIA organized the Commerce Department’s trade mission to China late last month, taking 32 telecom companies with it to make presentations about various technologies and products, said Flanigan. According to Flanigan, Nelson was bombarded with questions after a press conference there.
TIA said Nelson merely discussed the general merits of CDMA technology in response to a specific question and stated that CDMA was now one of the choices for China’s 3G systems.
John Giere, vice president of external and public affairs with Ericsson, asked for a retraction of the statements and an apology to its GSM and TDMA customers on behalf of TIA member companies, saying “these technologies, and more importantly all the people and companies represented, deserve more respect for their efforts.”
Giere declined to comment on whether the company is satisfied with TIA’s clarification. “I’ll reserve judgment until I hear what our customers have to say,” he said.
The sensitivity over technologies remains even though Ericsson recently signed an agreement with Qualcomm Inc. to purchase the company’s infrastructure division, license cdmaOne technology and end all patent disputes. The Sweden-based vendor has been careful to say it remains strongly committed to TDMA and GSM technologies. L.M. Ericsson issued a press release late last week indicating it remains strongly committed to migrating GSM and TDMA technologies to the next generation, and that it is committed to W-CDMA technology as the leading global 3G standard for new spectrum.
It’s a case of all major vendors trying to support what their customers want, said Mike Kennedy, Motorola Inc.’s corporate vice president and director of global spectrum and telecom policy and TIA board member.
“We’re one of largest manufacturers of GSM and the largest of cdmaOne. We’re trying to support what customers want,” said Kennedy. “Unfortunately, it has become kind of a holy war. We’re talking about differences in technologies. Once that argument calms down, then I don’t think TIA has a lasting problem.”
William Plummer, vice president of government and industry affairs with Nokia Inc. in Washington, D.C., said the incident provides TIA with an opportunity to ensure that it promotes a family of standards on an equal basis.
“I know these issues have come up in the past, and certainly I think this presents the opportunity to look at what is the role of the various divisions within TIA,” said Plummer.
Ericsson’s Giere further called for a review of TIA International, saying the “incident validates the concerns of some member companies that the unrestrained operational manner of TIA International Affairs needs to be reviewed.”
“A number of companies, including Ericsson, wonder exactly what we are trying to do with the internationalization of TIA,” Giere told RCR.
Flanigan said TIA is expanding rapidly internationally, but a minority of board members, large international vendors, remain opposed to this move. In particular, some member companies were strongly opposed to a new office scheduled to open in Brussels, Belgium, June 1.
“Some companies are concerned because they already are international,” said Flanigan. “They would rather have money spent to promote products in the U.S. We have 32 members, and we take votes on this. Less than five were opposed to this … The international department is growing quickly to provide many opportunities. Things aren’t always smooth. There’s always going to be people who feel we shouldn’t move in that direction.”
TIA has established offices in Beijing, Moscow and Sao Paulo, Brazil. The association’s membership numbers 1,000 large and small vendors.
“The biggest opportunity for American manufacturers is clearly outside the U.S. boundaries in the future,” said Flanigan. “Because of that, we at TIA have taken an active role in working with ITU in opening up offices in markets where members feel they need to sell products.”
Some sources contacted for this article declined to speak on the record about their concerns with TIA.
