ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994                   TAG: 9403130116
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. AND JAPAN ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT ON CELLULAR PHONES

After weeks of mounting confrontation over trade, the United States and Japan announced an agreement Saturday that will provide American manufacturers broader access to Japan's cellular telephone market.

President Clinton called the development a "big win for everyone" and said it "demonstrates that the United States and Japan can work together to open up jobs in America by opening up markets in Japan."

It was unclear how far the accord on cellular phones, a subject of dispute for nearly a decade, would go toward defusing tensions surrounding broader U.S. efforts to narrow a record $59.3 billion trade imbalance with Japan.

U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor called it "a first step forward to meeting other challenges we face" with Japan over trade, noting the agreement for the first time commits the Japanese to meeting specific deadlines and benchmarks in opening its markets.

Broader trade talks broke off last month over demands by the Clinton administration that any agreements must be "result-oriented," meaning the Japanese must agree to specific targets in opening markets to foreign products. Japan rejected that as promoting managed trade.

Trade experts viewed the cellular telephone agreement, which will allow Motorola Inc., to expand its sale of U.S. technology in Japan, as an indicator that the Japanese are easing their opposition to specific trade commitments.

Clinton said the agreement would mean greater demand for cellular telephones and related equipment made in America, while Japanese consumers would be provided access to better service and better technology at lower prices.

Under the accord, Motorola's Japanese partner, IDO Corp., pledged to speed up construction of 159 new relay stations using Motorola technology. That would allow the network to reach 95 percent of the people in the Tokyo-Nagoya region, up from 47 percent now.

IDO said it will be forced to invest an additional $590 million because of the agreement. Much of that will go for relay stations supplied by Motorola. 


 by CNB