McKenzie Wark on Wed, 19 Feb 2003 23:38:01 +0100 (CET)


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

[Nettime-bold] Telocs eyeing post war Iraq



New York Times / February 17, 2003

Looking Beyond a War in Iraq
By SIMON ROMERO

The telecommunications equipment industry is
quietly pinning its hopes on a quick Iraqi war
that would be followed by an American-led
effort to rebuild the country after the ouster of
Saddam Hussein.


Iraq, whose communications networks were
heavily damaged in the 1991 gulf war, is sorely
in need of an entirely new and modern
telecommunications system for its civilian
population.


And if a pro-American government were to
emerge in Iraq, telecommunications equipment
analysts say American companies like Lucent
Technologies and Motorola could gain an edge
over competitors from France and China that
have won relatively modest contracts in recent
years to help Iraq improve its communications
network.


An important precedent, these analysts say,
came after the gulf war when Saudi Arabia
awarded Lucent at least $4.5 billion of
contracts to overhaul its telephone system.


That deal, among the largest government
awards to any equipment manufacturer in the
last decade, was widely associated with an
effort by allies in the region to favor American
companies after the war.


"A new government in Baghdad more favorably
disposed to the United States could tilt the
geopolitical favor of telecoms' future contracts
in the direction of American companies," said
Joseph Braude, a senior analyst at Pyramid
Research, a company in Cambridge, Mass.,
that conducts international telecommunications
research.


Mr. Braude, who is also the author of "The
New Iraq," a coming book about rebuilding that
country's infrastructure, estimated that Iraq
needed to invest at least $1 billion over the next
several years to improve its basic fixed-line
telephone system. Additional investments will
be needed to introduce wireless
communications and overhaul the nation's
international communications links, Mr. Braude
said.


[匽

Executives at American companies that are
analyzing contract opportunities in Iraq are
hesitant to discuss publicly their views of the
Iraqi market. Mary Lou Ambrus, a
spokeswoman for Lucent, which is based in
Murray Hill, N.J., declined to comment.


Jennifer Weyrauch, a Motorola spokeswoman,
said, "If an opportunity exists under the right
circumstances we would take a close look at
it." The company, a leader in wireless
communications, operates in 10 countries of the
Middle East and North Africa. "To this end,"
Ms. Weyrauch continued, "we urge the U.S.
Congress and administration to prepare to
promptly remove existing sanctions that would
impede U.S. businesses from participating in the
reconstruction and recovery effort."


It is premature and simplistic to discuss specific
contract possibilities because of the many
factors that would come into play after a war,
the nation's outstanding foreign debt obligations
and legal disputes that could emerge among
companies with existing Iraqi contracts and
firms seeking new business there.


"There are so many uncertainties involved in
commercial ambitions in Iraq," said Barbara
Oegg, a trade expert at the Institute for
International Economics, a research group in
Washington.


Still, the complexity related to Iraq has not
stopped American communications companies
from speculating about the future there. Joseph
R. Wright, the chief executive of PanAmSat, the
commercial international satellite operator
based in Wilton, Conn., said in an interview that
his company was evaluating the need for
communications systems in Iraq that include the
use of satellite links.


"Nation rebuilding in Iraq or Afghanistan or
wherever would have an advantage by adopting
hybrid technology solutions," Mr. Wright said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/17/technology/17NECO.html?pagewanted=print&position=top




___________________________________________________

http://subsol.c3.hu/subsol_2/contributors0/warktext.html
                   ... we no longer have roots, we have aerials ...
___________________________________________________




_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*.  
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold