joegratz.net

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) plans to introduce legislation mandating CDMA over GSM as the cell-phone standard in postwar Iraq. Ridiculous. GSM is the obvious choice; it’s used by every other country in the region (and the world; there are no CDMA-only countries, though GSM coverage is reportedly spotty in Japan and much of Latin America).

This is a combination of the two pitfalls the United States government must avoid in the rebuilding of Iraq in order to help restore our international credibility. First, we must avoid the appearance that large contracts are going to American companies solely because they are American. Here, the choice of CDMA would be a windfall for Qualcomm, a California company; the choice of GSM would spread the profits over a large number of technology companies.

Second, we must avoid commercial spite against France and Germany. These are powerful economies, and their governemnts can and will help us with the reconstruction if we don’t hold a grudge about United Nations foot-dragging. Yes, GSM once stood for “Groupe Speciale Mobile” (it has since become “Global Standard for Mobile”), but the biggest GSM equipment makers aren’t French. They’re Finnish (Nokia), American (Motorola), and Swedish (Ericsson). No spite necessary.