Tuesday, 27 March 2007

Safety Officials Warn Against Qualcomm Cell Phone Ban

Broadcom had urged a government panel to stop importing cell phones that include chips made by Qualcomm. This was done due to patent infringement lawsuits between the companies. Scott McGregor, President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcom, said the prohibition would not disrupt...

Broadcom had urged a government panel to stop importing cell phones that include chips made by Qualcomm. This was done due to patent infringement lawsuits between the companies.

Scott McGregor, President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcom, said the prohibition would not disrupt the wireless telecommunications market, as Qualcomm and its supporters have argued.

"Things will continue just as they have, with the exception that a subset of cellular devices that contain infringing ... chips would no longer be available to be imported into the United States," McGregor said.

On the other hand, Irwin Jacobs, Qualcomm's chief executive, disagreed vehemently.

Afederal official is of the opinion that if the International Trade Commission (ITC) plans to go ahead with the ban of the phones government agencies would have a harder time communicating with the public in an emergency.

David Webb, program manager at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said, "An [import ban] would significantly impact the type and quality of information which can be exchanged between responders and citizens ... severely impacting FEMA's ability to communicate critical information at disaster sites".

"There are important public safety benefits to the technology," said Patrick Halley, a spokesman for an association that represents emergency call centre managers.

Even, other cell phone makers like Samsung,, Motorola, LG Electronics and Kyocera, were against the ban.