Japan Wireless Tactics Slammed

The U.S. unveiled the axis of telecommunications evil, charging China, India, Japan and others with protecting their home markets while taking advantage of international trading rights to build their global telecom businesses. The report was particularly critical of limitations on suppliers’ choice of technology in China and Korea. China, India, Japan, and Peru were cited in the report as countries “requiring particular attention.”

The charges are contained in an annual review by the U.S. Trade Representative office of foreign compliance with telecommunications trade agreements. The report detailed a laundry list of problems including excessive interconnection rates for mobile networks in Germany, Japan, Mexico, Peru, and Switzerland. Japan was accused of limiting entry into its wireless markets by failing to make new spectrums available, while China was accused of imposing a number of unfair regulatory requirements related to capitalization levels and joint venture partners. Continue >>