The
Office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a report
citing three key barriers that impede access and open
competition in global telecommunications markets:
(1) the proposed exclusionary standards for wireless equipment
and services in China and Korea,
(2) high interconnection rates for mobile and wireline networks
in Europe and Asia, and
(3) restrictions on accessing wholesale transmission capacity,
especially in Germany, India, Switzerland and Singapore. In
addition, the USTR lists at least two countries (Mexico and
South Africa) that have been slow in implementing commitments to
permit U.S. suppliers to resell basic telecom services in their
markets.
In particular, the USTR expressed serious concerns about the
impending Wireless LAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure
(WAPI) mandate in China, Korea’s Wireless Internet Protocol for
Interoperability (WIPI) and its market for 2.3 GHz services, and
Japan’s new 3G services.
The global market for telecommunications services and equipment
is now valued at about $1.3 trillion per year, according to the
newly issued 13-page report from the USTR.
The USTR report argues that the absence of fully independent
telecom regulators in many countries continues to weaken the
prospects for open competition. Key "countries of
concern" include China, Japan, France, Mexico and South
Africa.
The USTR said all of its recently negotiated Free Trade
Agreements (FTAs) contain specific prohibitions against the use
of exclusionary standards in the telecom sector, seek to ensure
reasonable and non-discriminatory access and interconnection
among network operators, and provide strong provisions for
independent regulators, including powers to enforce rules in a
transparent and meaningful way. Over the past year, FTAs have
come into effect between the U.S. and Chile and Singapore. New
FTAs have also been completed with six countries in Central
America, Australia and Morocco.
The USTR also noted that the United States recently won a
victory in the first ever telecommunications dispute in the WTO,
prevailing in a case against Mexico involving overcharges to
U.S. companies and consumers for phone calls to Mexico of over
$1 billion since 2000.
http://www.ustr.gov
