Amidst growing pressure from the Clinton administration, Japan’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications is set to begin studying other third-generation radio transmission technology proposals-namely cdma2000 technology-besides the W-CDMA proposal it submitted to the International Telecommunication Union.
The ministry’s decision comes after the Office of the United States Trade Representative submitted comments to Japan Sept. 30, urging Japan to keep its standards process open. Japan sought comment July 29 on guidelines for introducing third-generation technology. Sources indicate the Clinton administration’s concerns have prompted the MPT’s move. Studies are set to begin in late October.
Japan submitted only one standard-wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology-to the ITU, the international body in charge of setting a global 3G standard. While Japan’s standards body-the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses-has actively been looking at ways to converge the W-CDMA proposal, based on the GSM platform, with the Interim Standard-95-based cdma2000 proposal, sources indicate the MPT only has been interested in W-CDMA technology, a technology endorsed by the country’s largest mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo.
The trade office indicated in its comments that the United States supports a set of principles that include ITU consideration of backward compatibility, standards that support current systems operating in the Americas and around the globe and harmonization and consolidation of proposals to the fullest extent possible.
“The United States strongly supports these principles and believes that they are directly relevant to Japan’s situation, particularly in regards to promoting an evolution or migration path from existing second-generation systems,” said the trade office. “We have been encouraged by indications that the main standards-making bodies in Japan are open to these principles. We are concerned, however, that an MPT decision on which standard or standards should be employed in Japan, based on a recommendation of its advisory body, the Telecommunications Technology Council, may not reflect these principles; and, that it may give rise to the same potential problem we anticipate in Europe, where an exclusionary standard may be mandated.”
The trade agency said not only is it concerned that the European Telecommunications Standards Institute has chosen a single-air interface, W-CDMA technology, that could become mandatory for Europe, it is also concerned about ETSI’s cooperative agreement with DoCoMo in promoting W-CDMA technology. DoCoMo, with European vendors L.M. Ericsson and Nokia Corp., is expected to become the first carrier in 2001 to deploy commercially third-generation technology and plans to invest billions into the system. ETSI, says the Clinton administration, refuses to consider other technologies, and it fears recent actions from the European parliament and the Council of the European Union could make W-CDMA technology the mandatory technology in Europe.
DoCoMo is said to have a large influence over Japan’s standards process. Japanese leaders set DoCoMo in charge of developing a 3G standard, one that would give Japanese vendors a global market. Japan locked itself out of today’s world market by deploying Personal Digital Cellular technology, a technology only used in Japan. Carriers DDI and IDO have pushed ahead with cdmaOne technology.
The Clinton administration in its comments to Japan added that it “will closely monitor the consistency of Japan’s actions with its [World Trade Organization] obligations.”
“Japan is in the same boat as the U.S.,” said one U.S. official. “They have operators using second-generation CDMA … It’s not to their advantage to adopt a standard that puts them at a disadvantage.”
Sources in Japan indicate the Japanese government does not want to alienate the United States.
“They understand it has become a trade issue between the U.S. and the [European Union],” said one Japanese source. “They got a signal there is no reason for the U.S. to attack Japan for this because ARIB has been handling things differently from ETSI. However, they also got a signal that some Americans suspect there is a hidden agreement between Japan and the EU. And if it were true, the U.S. government might also be concerned about the Japanese position. The Japanese government would definitely not like to see this become a trade issue.”
Because Japan wants to play a significant role in the global scene for 3G technology, it also is afraid of destroying its relationship with Europe. Japan has wanted only one 3G standard, but ARIB has been caught in the crossfire of the battle between U.S. vendors that favor convergence and European manufacturers that want W-CDMA technology. All are fighting a political battle for access to the multibillion-dollar market in the next century that promises Internet-friendly handsets with sophisticated high-speed data and global-roaming features.
Despite ARIB’s efforts to negotiate with ETSI-which has yet to show interest in converging the W-CDMA and cdma2000 proposals-and the United States’ Telecommunications Industry Association and the T1P1 committee, the Japanese are afraid U.S. and European vendors will never agree.
Two standards-cdma2000 and W-CDMA-now are likely to be adopted in Japan, but the Japanese also know convergence may be the only way to solve intellectual property rights issues. ARIB recently has taken steps to look at specifications for the ANSI-41 standard and its associated radio interfaces.
Qualcomm Inc. has indicated it holds key IPRs to W-CDMA technology and has made it clear it will not grant them unless convergence of the two proposals is achieved. Ericsson, however, said it has found no reason to believe that ETSI’s present W-CDMA standard, which is nearly identical to the Japanese standard, infringes on any valid IPRs claimed by Qualcomm.
South Korea
Elsewhere in Asia, published reports indicate South Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute is moving to establish ties with Ericsson to develop W-CDMA technology. ETRI, the hub of Korea’s research and development efforts, so far has focused only on cdma2000, since all of the country’s operators use cdmaOne technology. The country, however, submitted both cdma2000 and W-CDMA proposals to the ITU in June.
