WASHINGTON-The White House, in the first official expression of wireless trade policy, said it supports technology neutrality but did not signal it planned to take as aggressive a stance as the previous administration in responding to the Korean government’s manipulation of the licensing process for third-generation mobile-phone licenses.
“The administration shares your view that governments generally should not influence or determine which technologies should be adopted in the mobile wireless sector,” said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in a May 23 letter to Matthew Flanigan, president of the Telecommunications Industry Association.
But Zoellick added: “While there is some evidence of government involvement in promoting particular standards in Korea, the Korean government has demonstrated a general openness to competing standards through its actual licensing of multiple standards,” Zoellick added.
Flanigan, whose trade group represents telecom equipment makers in the United States wrote USTR in April to protest the Korean government’s abrupt decision last year to set aside one of three 3G licenses for cdma2000 technology. Cdma2000 technology was developed by San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc. and manufacturers include Korean mobile-phone manufacturing giant Samsung.
Before the Korean government stepped in, the top three candidates for 3G licenses-state-run Korea Telecom, No. 2 mobile-phone carrier SK Telecom and LG Group-proposed using wideband CDMA technology. W-CDMA 3G technology will be deployed in Europe and other parts of the world with equipment manufactured by Finland’s Nokia Corp., Sweden’s L.M. Ericsson. Motorola Inc., the top U.S. mobile-phone manufacturer, has not endorsed either major 3G technology.
“There are many nations around the world where U.S. technology is denied market access. We’re glad USTR is working hard to open those markets,” said Jonas Neihardt, vice president for government affairs at Qualcomm.
In the past, Qualcomm has complained it is locked out of the European market. The European Commission previously directed its 15 member states to each issue at least one W-CDMA 3G license.
Zoellick said the Bush administration wireless trade policy will focus not only on Korea, but also on trading partners in other countries where there is evidence of “de jure and de facto preferences to one standard over others.” He did not provide specifics, however.
Whether the USTR letter will assuage concerns of TIA’s members is unclear, if not doubtful.
“Nokia welcomes the U.S. government’s continued promotion of technology neutrality with respect to the situation in Korea and echoes support for competition between standards where there is a commercial interest,” said William Plummer, vice president of government affairs for Nokia and a TIA board member. “However, mandating deployment of multiple standards in the face of a marketplace consensus behind one is a different matter. Offering anticompetitive incentives to force a multiple-standards environment and requiring complex and costly multiple mode devices would seem inconsistent with a policy of technology neutrality.”
At a May 31 meeting between TIA members and USTR staff, according to a source, Plummer failed to win a commitment from USTR that it would send a strongly worded letter to Korea to protest the government’s interference in 3G licensing. The Clinton administration took precisely that action.
A U.S. official said no options have been taken off the table regarding the Korean 3G licensing process.
But it may be too late. The Korea Times reported last Thursday that LG, after signing up 550 companies (including 20 heavyweights) and winning the backing of an influential high-tech lobbying group, has emerged as the favorite to capture the final 3G license that is earmarked for cdma2000.
