International Affairs

The road to economic recovery in Asia, combined with the explosive global growth of the Internet and electronic commerce, are causing telecommunications markets around the world to reach new heights. TIA's International Affairs Department spent 1999 working to enhance the market opportunities for TIA members abroad. The association has focused on policy and trade-promotion activities to level the playing field abroad and to provide specific opportunities for members to meet with relevant decision makers.

TIA members continue to expand their international sales efforts to tap into lucrative global markets. In the most recent survey of members' international interests, 76 percent of the respondents indicated they believe their international sales will increase.

On the policy front, TIA's International Affairs Department has been working on a number of initiatives to make it easier for members to sell abroad. One area of interest has been the development of mutual recognition agreements/arrangements (MRAs). MRAs are designed to streamline the equipment certification processes, thereby reducing cost and time-to-market for relevant products. TIA has been working on implementation of the U.S.-European Union (EU) MRA that was launched in December 1998, as well as on implementation of the multilateral MRA of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The association also has focused on negotiations of a multilateral MRA in the Americas. Modeled closely after the APEC MRA, the Americas MRA is being negotiated under the auspices of the Inter-American Commission on Telecommunication (CITEL) of the Organization of American States. The final text of this agreement was completed at year-end 1999 with implementation to follow. Thanks to all of these efforts, the United States now has the potential to have MRAs with as many as 50 major trading partners.

In other policy areas, TIA has been actively engaged in the negotiations between the United States and China that would facilitate China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). In November 1999, the United States and China reached a bilateral agreement that would dramatically enhance the market opportunities for U.S. suppliers in many industry sectors; the telecommunications aspects of the package were particularly advantageous for TIA members. Expectations are that the complete accession package will be finalized by mid-to-late spring 2000. The U.S. Congress must vote to give China permanent normalized trade relations (PNTR) in order to ensure that U.S. industry will be able to take advantage of these new opportunities.

TIA also focused on market access conditions in Brazil. ANATEL, the Brazilian telecommunications regulator, has proposed numerous new regulations that would impact U.S. companies and their ability to sell into the rapidly growing Brazilian market. TIA has been following the situation closely and has provided input into the process, as necessary. TIA also has been active in trade negotiations and policy matters to open markets in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and other countries of particular interest to its members.

Worldwide spectrum management is another area of considerable growing interest for TIA and its members. As wireless technology becomes increasingly pervasive, the decisions related to the management of wireless spectrum become progressively more critical. During 1999, TIA developed a policy position on global spectrum management that concentrates on technology neutrality and market forces. TIA has shared its new position paper with many policy makers in the United States and around the world, especially in anticipation of the licensing of operators for third-generation (3G) wireless networks.

TIA provided member companies with numerous opportunities to meet with important decision makers around the world. For example, TIA collaborated with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Ministry of Information Industries (MII) to organize the second China-U.S. Telecommunications Summit in March 1999 in Guangzhou, China. At this event, telecommunications leaders from the 15 most-prominent provinces in China were present, along with Minister Wu from MII and his senior deputies, and a senior-level delegation from the United States led by Commerce Secretary William Daley. This event provided a unique venue for the 30 sponsoring U.S. telecommunications companies to promote their technologies in China.

TIA also opened an overseas affiliate office in 1999 in Brussels, Belgium. This new office, called TIA Europe, concentrates on providing TIA's members, especially its small and medium-size companies, with information and access into the rapidly changing telecommunications market of the EU.

The launch of TIA Europe brings to four the number of such overseas TIA offices. TIA's affiliate office in Moscow, called the Telecommunications and Electronics Consortium for the Newly Independent States (TEC-NIS), was very active in 1999 as the Russian economy began to recover and spending on telecommunications accelerated. In addition, TEC-NIS has addressed a number of policy matters in an attempt to make the process of selling telecommunications technology in Russia more open and transparent.

TIA's affiliate office in Beijing, the U.S. Information Technology Office (USITO), which TIA shares with three other information technology associations, has had a year filled with ups and downs in overall U.S.-Sino political and economic relations. China's accession to the WTO has been at the top of the agenda for USITO, followed by a host of other policy and trade promotion initiatives.

The Telecommunications and Electronics Consortium for Latin America (TEC-LA), TIA's affiliate office in Brazil, has been successfully representing the interests of TIA members in a rapidly changing policy and market environment. In particular, TEC-LA has been focused on various proposed regulations that provide preferential treatment to Brazilian-made telecommunications products sold to private operators.

Finally, TIA helped to establish an important new global industry group, the Global Telecommunications Action Committee (GTAC). Composed of executives from trade associations around the world, the committee represents the global interests of telecommunications suppliers. At its first formal meeting on October 6, 1999, in Tokyo, 11 trade associations from Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East unanimously decided that GTAC would adopt various policy platforms as a way to expand telecommunications markets around the world. The specific issues addressed include the Information Technology Agreement, equipment certification, global spectrum management and encryption.