Subject: [NEXTEL-1] AT&T, Sprint & Others Whines Over Iraq Contract

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 04:13:50 -0400

Oh! Get over it.....

How are Iraq citizens going to pay their bill? Their currency is almost
worthless due to the temporary influx of US currency. It will take a
financial reform by Iraq's new government stabilize their economy and
issue new currency.

What does AT&T  think the ARPU will be in Iraq in the future? I can tell
you.....2 Bags of Dirt and a Jack A**.
I'm sure WE (USA) will subsidize their network for many years to come
but I sure the subscribers will need to share some of the load.

 I'm not an MCI fan by no means but fighting to build a system in a city
that has been devastated by war is ridiculous. Build now fight later.
Everyone knows MCI utilizes advanced  CBS (Can't Build S***) technology
so the job will most likely be subcontracted out.

Guess who is in a perfect position? interWAVE...... remember they just
opened an office there.

"This is an interim, quick government solution - this is not the basis
for some national long-term solution for Iraq,"
Right down interWAVE's alley........

"The company is to build a small wireless network with 19 cell towers
that can serve 5,000 to 10,000 mobile phones used by reconstruction
officials and aid workers in the Baghdad area. The network, using the
GSM wireless standard dominant in Europe and the Middle East, is
expected to be running by July."

interWAVE perfected GSM In-A-Box.

But I could be wrong.................

If AT&T or others want a cut let them form a Joint Venture......

Geezzee! 19 sites 5,000 phones the deal can't be worth more than $10M
even if they have to build the backbone. The profit won't even pay the
Exec bonuses at AT&T. Oppps I forgot they are working for the Gov't make
that $15M to cover bureaucratic delays and illegal campaign
contributions.

Good to see they are going with Moto for Military LMR. I wonder if it
will be a P-25 based system or Tetra.

=====================================================================
Bankrupt WorldCom Wires Iraq

NEW YORK (AP) - The Pentagon made an interesting choice when it hired a
U.S. company to build a small wireless phone network in Iraq: MCI, aka
WorldCom Inc., perpetrator of the biggest accounting fraud in American
business and not exactly a big name in cellular service.

The Iraq contract incensed WorldCom rivals and government watchdogs who
say Washington has been too kind to the company since WorldCom revealed
its $11 billion accounting fraud and plunged into bankruptcy last year.
"We don't understand why MCI would be awarded this business given its
status as having committed the largest corporate fraud in history," said
AT&T Corp. spokesman Jim McGann. "There are many qualified, financially
stable companies that could have been awarded that business, including
us."

"I was curious about it, because the last time I looked, MCI's never
built out a wireless network," said Len Lauer, head of Sprint Corp.'s
wireless division.  The contract is part of a short-term communications
plan costing the Pentagon about $45 million, said Lt. Col. Ken
McClellan.

The Pentagon also plans to have Motorola Corp. establish radio
communications for security forces in Baghdad, a deal worth $10 million
to $25 million depending on the options exercised, said McClellan, a
Pentagon spokesman.

The contract with WorldCom - which plans to adopt the name of its MCI
long-distance unit when it emerges from bankruptcy - has prompted
grumbling in the telecommunications industry from people who say it was
not put up for bids.

"We were not aware of it until it showed up in some news reports,"
Motorola spokesman Norm Sandler said.
McClellan said he had no details on the process that led to the deal,
which he said was signed early this month. WorldCom spokeswoman Natasha
Haubold declined to comment on details of the contract.

The company is to build a small wireless network with 19 cell towers
that can serve 5,000 to 10,000 mobile phones used by reconstruction
officials and aid workers in the Baghdad area. The network, using the
GSM wireless standard dominant in Europe and the Middle East, is
expected to be running by July.

"This is an interim, quick government solution - this is not the basis
for some national long-term solution for Iraq," McClellan said. "That
will probably have to be undertaken by the Iraqis."

WorldCom is not a commercial wireless carrier. It once resold other
wireless carriers' service in the United States but dropped that
approach recently. However, Haubold said her company is fully qualified
to peform the Iraq work. She pointed to the company's work on a wireless
system in Haiti in the 1990s and a 2002 contract, in which it served as
a subcontractor, to provide long-distance connections for a
wirelessnetwork in Afghanistan.

 McClellan agreed that WorldCom's experience in Haiti and Afghanistan is
analogous to what is needed in Iraq.
 Haubold also stressed the company's overall deep relationship with the
U.S. military and government.
 In fact, a recent review by Washington Technology, a trade paper that
follows computing-related sales to the government, found that WorldCom
jumped to eighth among all federal technology contractors in 2002, with
$772 million in sales. It was the first time WorldCom cracked the top
10.

That $772 million figure refers only to deals in which WorldCom is the
prime contractor to federal agencies. The company gets much more
taxpayer money - exactly how much is not disclosed - from state
contracts and from federal deals in which it is a subcontractor.

That infuriates WorldCom critics, who say the government has kept the
company afloat while the General Services Administration barred Enron
and Arthur Andersen from getting contracts after their scandals emerged.

They also say it shows how little WorldCom would be hurt by the proposed
$500 million fine the company has agreed to pay to settle Securities and
Exchange Commission fraud charges.

 "The $500 million is in a sense, laundered by the taxpayers," said Tom
Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste. McClellan
declined to comment on whether the WorldCom fraud made the company a bad
choice for the Iraq contract. "That would probably be a question for the
lawyers," he said.

 Last year, Sprint and Global Crossing Ltd., another WorldCom rival,
complained to the General Accounting Office about a $450 million
contract awarded by the Defense Information Systems Agency to WorldCom
for a computer network used by Pentagon scientists.

 The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said the defense agency
"relied on grossly inaccurate financial information in making a
determination that WorldCom was a responsible contractor." But the GAO
said it lacked the jurisdiction to rule on the complaint.

http://www.13abc.com/index.cfm?Article=7754&SecName=28&Level=1&SubID=0&Itm=&SideID=&IsItm=

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From: "sparkie_rf" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 20:51:50 -0000

> but I sure the subscribers will need to share some of the load.

Exactly!!!

Plus we don't need the additional b******* associated with QCOM 
being a jewish company. CDMA would be the proverbial lead ballon. 
These carriers should be focused on their home networks!!!