  We consider the loop quantization of Maxwell theory. A quantization of this
type leads to a quantum theory in which the fundamental excitations are
loop-like rather than particle-like. Each such loop plays the role of a
quantized Faraday's line of electric flux. We find that the quantization
depends on an arbitrary choice of a parameter e that carries the dimension of
electric charge. For each value of e an electric charge that can be contained
inside a bounded spatial region is automatically quantized in units of
hbar/4*pi*e. The requirement of consistency with the quantization of electric
charge observed in our Universe fixes a value of the, so far arbitrary,
parameter e of the theory. Finally, we compare the ambiguity in the choice of
parameter e with the beta-ambiguity that, as pointed by Immirzi, arises in the
loop quantization of general relativity, and comment on a possible way this
ambiguity can be fixed.
