0004133373@mcimail.com (Donald E. Kimberlin) (06/26/91)
A while back, we had some thread here about how international phone
liaisons are carried on; in particular with nations not friendly to
the U.S. One case in point was how, some 25 years ago, Cuba was cut
off until they came to terms that made all calls paid for on the U.S.
end.
Some correspondents queried me personally if the "Cuban deal"
still existed, freezing funds in the U.S. while conducting
international business directly with non-diplomatically recognized
nations.
AT&T seems to indeed, have been maintaining the "Cuban Deal"
for the past 25 years, and wants to expand such a relation to Vietnam,
as indicated in the press release following:
"FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1991
" WASHINGTON -- An AT&T executive, citing a "black market" in
high-cost, low-quality telephone service between the United States and
Vietnam, today urged the government to lift its l6-year-old ban on
direct communications service between the two countries.
"Dwight Jasmann, president and managing director of AT&T
Communications Pacific, Inc., Hong Kong, told a hearing of joint House
Foreign Affairs Subcommittees that unlicensed operators are
circumventiwg the U. S. governmYnt's economic embargo against Vietnam
by providing telephone and facsimile services through third countries.
These include Canada, Japan, France, Soutt Korea, Hong Kong and
Australia.
"Jasmann said the unlicensed operators are providing inferior
service and charging as much as $80 for a 10-minute call, more than
double the normal cost of calling to other countries in the region.
"He said lifting the ban on telephone service could be
accomplished immediately under current government regulations and that
doing so would provide economical and high quality service for 700,000
Vietnamese Americans as well as others wanting to communicate with
Vietnam.
"Jasmann said AT&T has discussed with Vietnamese telephone
authorities an arrangement whereby money due Vietnam from reopening
direct phone links "would be deposited by AT&T into a blocked account
under U. S. jurisdiction, in accordance with U. S. law." He said the
account would be remain blocked "until the United States government
institutes policy changes toward more normal relations with Vietnam,
and decides to allow such funds to be released."
"Jasmann said the arrangement would be similar to one under which
the government since 1968 has allowed AT&T to provide legal direct
telephone service to Cuba despite a long-standing U. S. economic
embargo against that country.
"`No funds flow to Fidel Castro, but millions of Cuban-Americans
can do what Vietnamese-Americans cannot -- place a simple telephone
call to their relatives back home at a fair and reasonable price,'
Jasmann said.
"He added: `In short, the ban on telephone service is not
accomplishing the intended effect of the U. S. sanctions against
Vietnam. The ban creates a black market which is technologically
impossible to stop and expensive to police. If direct telephone
service between the United States and Vietnam were established,
families could call home directly, profiteering at the expense of the
Vietnamese-American community would end, and the U.S. would succeed in
bringing under its jurisdiction a major source of hard currency
currently flowing into Vietnam.'
" Jasmann cited recent experience in the Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe as demonstrating `the positive political impact of international
telecommunications connections which provide vital information about
the outside world.' He noted that the United States has sanctioned
direct communications with close allies, adversaries and even
countries with which it `has the deepest philosophical and political
differences.'
"Lifting the ban on direct telephone service to and from Vietnam,
Jasmann said, `can only strengthen the policy of the United States to
make Vietnam a free and reliable partner in the international
community.'
"Vietnam is only one of three countries in the world that United
States residents cannot call. The others are Cambodia and North
Korea. AT&T provides service to 271 countries and areas, 177 of which
can be reached without the assistance of a telephone operator."