WASHINGTON-The congressman representing San Diego, hometown of CDMA developer Qualcomm, introduced legislation that would require the Department of Defense and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to deploy CDMA wireless technology in post-war Iraq.
“In entering into any contract with a private entity to provide commercial mobile wireless communication service as assistance for Iraq, the administrator of USAID and the Secretary of Defense shall require that CDMA technology be used for such communication service,” reads the legislation introduced Thursday by Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican from California.
Issa on Wednesday circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter urging other lawmakers to sign on to letters to Defense Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld and to USAID Ambassador Wendy Chamberlain calling for the same result.
“If European GSM technology is deployed in Iraq, much of the equipment used to build the cell-phone system will be manufactured in France by Alcatel, in Germany by Siemens, and elsewhere in Western and Northern Europe. Therefore, if our understanding of this situation is correct, because of ill-considered planning, the U.S. government will soon hand U.S. taxpayer dollars over to French, German, and other European cell-phone equipment companies to build the new Iraqi cell-phone system. This is not acceptable,” read a draft of the letter Issa urged his colleagues to sign.
At least one U.S. carrier that deploys GSM technology was not amused.
“I am saddened to read that at this time of war, when our attention and thoughts should be placed with the heroic efforts of the brave men and women in the military, someone is focusing on corporate interests; specifically, the type of wireless technology to be deployed in post-war Iraq. Leave this matter to a later day and with all the facts accurately presented,” said Brian Fontes, senior vice president of federal affairs at Cingular Wireless, when shown the draft letter.
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In addition, the GSM Association released a statement blasting Issa’s intervention. “To suggest that GSM is simply a European or French standard is, in the current climate, quite outrageous,” said Rob Conway, chief executive officer (CEO) of the GSM Association. Conway cited statistics showing the technology’s global reach and noted that GSM is already deployed in every country in the Middle East, while CDMA technology is not deployed in the region.
“I can’t believe someone has started this debate at this time, and I certainly can’t believe it has been started from such a false position and on such nationalistic terms,” added Conway.
Qualcomm responded to this and other like criticisms by saying that the Defense Department is making these decisions now, so now is the time to lobby.
“It is our understanding that decisions about post-wartime cell-phone systems are being made in real time,” said Jonas Neihart, Qualcomm’s vice president for federal affairs. “Plans are moving forward for the post-conflict reconstruction, and plans are being made, so concerns were raised.”
The reference to France comes two weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to change the word “French fries” on its cafeteria menus to read “freedom fries.”