"It's like those French have a different word for everything!" Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) today found himself the laughing stock of tech circles worldwide[1] for decrying GSM cellular technology[2] as "outdated" and "French" (see "GSM cell phone standard to be renamed 'Freedom Waves'[3]"). GSM, which was indeed once known as 'Groupe Speciale Mobile'[4] is these days referred to as the Global System for Mobile communications. And, as Rob Conway, CEO of the GSM Association explains in a withering response to Issa's letter, is also used in 193 countries by almost one billion people and is widely recognized as the international mobile standard.[5] "Congressman Issa's intervention that GSM is an 'outdated French standard' is as ill-timed as it is misinformed," Conway writes.[6] "At the moment our first priority must be to offer our support and sympathies to the people putting their lives on the line to liberate Iraq. The right time to debate the technology will be when the real conflict is over. And at that time we should look at the real facts, not the Congressman's ill advised opinion. To suggest that GSM is simply a European or French standard is, in the current climate, quite outrageous. Today, there are more than 20 Arab countries with GSM networks and 60 million customers in the region. Iraq, of course, has been under UN Sanctions and therefore has not been able to purchase GSM technology. ... I can't believe someone has started this debate at this time, and I certainly can't believe it has been started from such a false position and on such nationalistic terms."
[1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/59/29974.html
[2] http://www.issa.house.gov/ newsroom_press_detail.asp?serial=100&page=newsroom
[3] http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/ gmsv/5495842.htm
[4] http://www.emory.edu/BUSINESS/et/P98/gsm/history.html#group
[5] http://www.gsmworld.com/about/history/history_page4.shtml
[6] http://www.gsmworld.com/index.shtml -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
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