Sen. Ernest Hollings has opened a can of wireless worms.
Hollings’ efforts to block foreign-government-owned companies from taking too large a stake in U.S. telecom businesses is forcing me to look at the global economy in a new perspective.
Reminding everyone to play fair is much easier when it involves companies overseas opening up their markets to U.S. players rather than foreign companies buying a piece of Americana.
When the Chinese government was making concessions to the wireless industry in order to gain U.S. support for its entry into the World Trade Organization, I was suspicious of their efforts.
In fact, it seemed to me that although the United States should have had the upper hand in those negotiations, you never would have known it. Telecom manufacturers and others were doing back flips at the prospect of entering the potentially lucrative Chinese market and pressured our own government to back China’s entry into the WTO.
When the House agreed to extend normal trade relation status to China on a permanent basis, I felt China “won,” and nodded in agreement when human-rights advocates and others warned it would be impossible to monitor whether China would adhere to global trading rules and enforce them.
Later, when news stories came out that said China was considering TD-SCDMA-a Chinese technology-as a standard for third-generation wireless services instead of wideband CDMA or cdma2000 technologies, I said to myself, “See, they will continue to favor Chinese-backed products and services.”
But now that Deutsche Telekom is making a bid for VoiceStream Wireless, I find the shoe on the other foot. And it is an uncomfortable shoe.
The German government owning a large stake in a U.S. wireless player? Is this how the great American success story is going to play out?
Hollings, the powerful South Carolina Democrat, has introduced legislation to block purchases of U.S. telecom carriers by foreign-government-owned companies because he said they raise national security issues and are anti-competitive.
One analyst noted that Deutsche Telekom could purchase Qwest to bring its government ownership in line with Hollings’ demands. Meanwhile, the European Union has warned it will scrutinize any U.S. legislation to see if the United States is breaking any WTO rules.
How ironic that while I am suspicious of the Chinese government’s ability to play fair, other governments have those same suspicions of the United States.
