China is a land of enormous opportunity for wireless infrastructure makers and the like, no doubt about it. A land with more than 1 billion people can yield a lot of cell-phone users. Motorola Inc. recently scored a $1 billion contract in China, and Lucent Technologies Inc. announced its own $350 million in contracts from wireless carriers. Other recent contracts with China were picked up by Intel Corp., UTStarcom Inc., Nortel Networks Ltd., Cisco Systems Inc. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P.
However, trouble is brewing in China as the country struggles to balance free trade with what opponents say are protectionist moves. A recent article in The New York Times detailed how the Chinese government is trying to mandate an encryption standard for Wi-Fi service and work with designated Chinese manufacturers to produce the software. The country has been pushing its own TD-SCDMA standard for advanced-generation wireless networks, as well. Depending on your point of view, China either is just trying to get a piece of the worldwide technology pie or it is a blatant attempt to benefit Chinese-grown technology at the expense of the rest of the world.
China is not the first (nor will it be the last) country trying to find the right balance between operating under WTO rules and not getting left behind in the high-tech race. RCR Wireless News’ Jeff Silva earlier this month reported on a similar dust-up between the United States and South Korea. The United States believes the South Korean government is trying to mandate a wireless Internet standard that would benefit Korean manufacturers. The United States also took issue with South Korea when it announced it would set aside one license for CDMA2000 technology, again saying government should not mandate technology. Likewise, the Clinton administration in 1998 charged foul when ETSI selected W-CDMA as the standard for third-generation wireless in Europe. But finger-pointing goes both ways. Some U.S. congressmen tried to mandate U.S.-built CDMA technology be used to rebuild Iraq’s wireless networks. The idea was dropped after its proponents remembered governments should not mandate standards.
The problem is every country is looking for a competitive advantage. And what’s to one person’s advantage is often to another’s disadvantage. However, China, South Korea and the United States each have adopted several technologies, and CDMA is operating in Europe.
In the end, the market will decide. And someday, perhaps we even will talk on TD-SCDMA phones in the United States.
