WorldCom Wins $20M Bid to Build Baghdad Cell Network

Computerworld - The Department of Defense has awarded WorldCom Inc. a contract valued at about $20 million to install a cellular communications system in Baghdad. It also has mounted a massive logistics effort to turn on limited cellular service in the Iraqi capital next month.
The system being set up by WorldCom -- which is now operating under the name MCI -- will be used to facilitate communications between U.S. personnel in Iraq, said Air Force Lt. Col. Ken McClellan, a Pentagon spokesman. "The ability to communicate is a crucial tool to advance security interests as well as humanitarian efforts," McClellan said. He added that the cellular system could be used by up to 10,000 people.
Sources familiar with the plan said users will include U.S. civilian and military personnel in Baghdad and possibly workers from humanitarian aid organizations. All access to the system will be controlled by U.S. officials, they added.
A WorldCom spokeswoman declined to provide any details about the planned cellular telephone system except to say that the company will meet a deadline to activate the service in June.
Mark Smith, a spokesman for the GSM Association in London, said the network being installed by WorldCom is based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard used by other countries in the Middle East. The GSM Association is working with WorldCom and the U.S. government to secure the Iraqi network, he said.
Technology Ties
In March, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) introduced a bill seeking to require the Pentagon to use Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular network technology in Iraq instead of GSM. CDMA was developed by Qualcomm Inc., which is based in San Diego.
But Craig Mathias, an analyst at Farpoint Group in Ashland, Mass., said it makes more sense to install a GSM system in Baghdad because all the countries surrounding Iraq use that technology. About 80% of the world's cellular networks are based on GSM technology, Mathias added.
The sources said WorldCom has tapped Stockholm-based LM Ericsson Telephone Co. to supply the GSM equipment, including 17 cell towers and associated equipment. WorldCom has also installed a satellite earth station in Baghdad to connect the cellular system to networks it operates for the Defense Department in the U.S., according to the sources.
They said shipping all the equipment to Baghdad required a mammoth logistics effort that involved five C-5 cargo aircraft, the largest planes the Air Force operates. The equipment delivery was completed May 16.

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