MANHASSET, N.Y. — A political flap has erupted over Pentagon plans to deploy a GSM cellular network in post-war Iraq.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, condemned the planned rollout of European-based GSM cellular technology in Iraq. Issa also introduced legislation on Thursday (March 27) that would reverse the directive by replacing GSM with U.S.-based CDMA networks.
Issa, a former offical with the Consumer Electronics Association, said the plan would shift business and U.S. tax dollars to German and French companies like Siemens and Alcatel.
Calling CDMA a "technically superior" home-grown alternative, Issa pressed the Pentagon and the U.S. Reconstruction and Civil Affairs Office to reconsider their plans, which Issa said he believes are unfolding quickly to address immediate, post-war communications requirements.
The letter to Rumsfeld stressed the French origins of the GSM standard (Groupe Speciale Mobile) and that the U.S.-born CDMA (code division multiple access) technology is superior, and is deployed in 50 nations. Issa also cited CDMA's integrated Global Positioning System features as advantages for relief workers who "will be immediately locatable in case of terrorist attack or kidnapping."
"Hundreds of thousands of American jobs depend on the success of U.S.-developed wireless technologies like CDMA," Issa told Rumsfeld. If the U.S. government deploys U.S.-developed CDMA in Iraq, then American companies will manufacture most of the necessary equipment here in the United States."
Responding to the letter, Europe-based analyst firm Ovum said, "It's one thing to re-label French fries as 'Freedom Fries' or to advocate a boycott of French wine, but now U.S. politicians have dragged the wireless industry into the debate over Iraq."
Ovum noted that Issa represents California's 49th congressional District north of San Diego, "home to CDMA powerhouse Qualcomm (a contributor to Issa's 2002 political campaign)."
"It doesn't make any sense to do anything but GSM in Iraq when almost every other country around it uses GSM," said Michael O'Doherty, senior wireless analyst with Ovum's Boston, Mass. division. "It's is the primary technology used in the Middle East, so using CDMA would just create a pocket of incompatibility in that region."
Ovum noted that Scandinavian and Dutch mobile operators, not French, first proposed a new digital cellular standard that came to be known as GSM. It said the original French name, 'Groupe Speciale Mobile', was long ago discarded in favor of the current "Global System for Mobile Communication" label. This, said Ovum, "reflects the global nature of the standard while retaining the familiar acronym GSM."
By the end of 2002, Ovum said, there were more than 786 million GSM subscribers worldwide, or 69 percent of the global wireless market. "U.S. companies such as AT&T Wireless, Cingular and T-Mobile also moving to deploy a GSM-based technology (GPRS) for their next-generation networks," it said.
The irony, said Ovum, is that the GSM and CDMA camps are partnering more than ever to provide services customers want, which "may be a useful lesson for the politicians."
There was no immediate reaction to Issa's letter from the Defense Department.
