Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Bill lobbies for Iraq to go CDMA

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 19:45:04 -0500

Soo true-

"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 L.L.C., when shown the draft
letter."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill lobbies for Iraq to go CDMA
March 26 18:32:00, 2003

WASHINGTON-The congressman representing San Diego, home of CDMA developer Qualcomm Inc.,
introduced legislation that would require the Department of Defense and the United States
Agency for International Development 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 Rep. Darrell
Issa (R-Calif.).

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 L.L.C., when shown the draft
letter.

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 House of Representatives voted to change
the word "French fries"
on its cafeteria menus to read "freedom fries."
http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=7816
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