[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2053-E2054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   OPEN COMPETITION FOR THE U.S. WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 9, 1998

  Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of myself, as chairman of the Ways 
and Means Trade Subcommittee, and my distinguished colleague and 
ranking member of the Subcommittee, Robert Matsui, I rise today to 
inform my colleagues of a critically important telecommunications trade 
issue. While companies from around the world are busy developing 
innovative new wireless telecommunications devices, potentially serious 
roadblocks to the free trade of these products are being erected in the 
form of exclusionary standards.
  The European Union (EU) is on the verge of adopting legislation that 
would mandate the use of exclusionary third generation wireless 
standards incompatible with existing American-developed 
telecommunications equipment and systems. If this measure were adopted, 
all other technologies, specifically American-developed technology, 
would be blocked from competing in Europe as a matter of law.

[[Page E2054]]

  In addition, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute 
(ETSI) recently adopted a single third generation wireless standard, 
Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), and has submitted this one standard to the 
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for approval. This is an 
inappropriate role for Europe's regulators: picking winners by 
administrative fiat. That is the role of the marketplace.
  These regulations will harm the United States in numerous ways. 
American jobs will be lost, American-developed telecommunications 
products and services will quickly become obsolete, and billions of 
dollars of American investment that built telecommunications networks 
will be kept out of Europe's vast marketplace. It should be noted that 
no such arbitrary rules prevent European developed technologies from 
competing for customers in the American market. Further, the EU's 
actions in this regard run directly counter to the laudable trade 
liberalization goals contained in the Transatlantic Economic 
Partnership (TEP)--a recently announced initiative between the EU and 
the United States.
  In response to a recent inquiry made by Mr. Matsui regarding this 
issue, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky stated that the 
administration would actively monitor the EU's commitment to 
transparent and non-trade distorting standards, including the possible 
use of the World Trade Organization dispute settlement procedures.
  Congressman Matsui and I are concerned that the same problem may 
emerge in Japan. Japan is also considering a new wireless 
telecommunications standard and could adopt an identical exclusionary 
standard as Europe, which could have the same effect in disadvantaging 
U.S. suppliers.
  Such actions by Japan and Europe threaten to disrupt the fair and 
objective evaluation of telecommunications standards currently underway 
at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). If countries 
prematurely adopt standards and make them mandatory before the ITU has 
fully evaluated different proposals and had a chance to encourage 
harmonization, then a valuable opportunity to ensure fairness and 
consideration of global needs will have been lost.
  In the Americas, we have tried to build a consensus on how to 
approach the development of wireless standards through the Inter-
American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). On September 18, a CITEL 
resolution was adopted to guide member states participating in the ITU 
standards process. The guidelines were designed to ensure that the 
standards selection process does not adversely affect users and 
suppliers of existing wireless networks based on U.S. technology, which 
must incorporate a new standard to provide advanced services. The 
United States strongly endorsed these principles and on September 30, 
formally asked Japan to adopt similar principles as it considers its 
new wireless standards.
  As the representatives of the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, Mr. 
Matsui and I urge our colleagues to insist that the telecommunication 
markets in Europe and Japan open themselves to American innovation, in 
the same manner that American markets are open to foreign competition.
  We anticipate that this issue will be an important one for the 106th 
Congress. The Congress, together with Office of the United States Trade 
Representative, will vigorously monitor this important trade issue, 
ensuring that the worldwide market in this rapidly emerging technology 
is open for American-developed technologies and standards.

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