CommsDesign.com March 28, 2003 (7:31 a.m. EST)
LONDON — The GSM Association has responded vigorously to a second-term Republican Congressman's outburst at plans to build a cellular network in post war Iraq based on what was described as the 'outdated French standard' instead of the 'superior' CDMA technology developed by Qualcomm. Rob Conway, CEO of the Association, said Congressman Darrell Issa's intervention was “as ill-timed as it is misinformed”. In a letter to US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, Congressman Issa, a former US Army captain, objected to plans by the US Agency for International Development to use federal funds to build a GSM based network in Iraq. He suggested it was outrageous that this could benefit companies from France and Germany, and said any such network should be based on CDMA technology that could benefit US equipment providers, notably Qualcomm, and 'safeguard hundreds of thousand of American jobs'. Conway said, “ the right time to debate the technology will be when the real conflict is over. And at that time we should look at the real facts, not the Congressman's ill advised opinion. To suggest that GSM is simply a European or French standard is, in the current climate, quite outrageous.”
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The GSM Association CEO noted GSM is an 'open standard', so any manufacturer from any country can make GSM equipment on a 'level playing field' - including North American companies such as Motorola, Lucent and Nortel.
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Conway added major network operators in the USA offer GSM services such as AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile USA. He stressed GSM is already deployed in every country of the Middle East region - CDMA is not deployed in any. He noted GSM was installed in Afghanistan post-war by an American company (TSI of New York) after a full tender process. More than 20 Arab countries operate GSM networks that serve 60million customers in the region. However, since Iraq has been under UN sanctions, it has not been able to purchase GSM technology. It is perhaps not a coincidence that Congressman Issa represents the San Diego district of California, hometown of Qualcomm.
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