Telecom ‘05 Notebook: A new NTIA spectrum advisory body of indus...

Michael Gallagher said at the Telecom ‘05 convention in Las Vegas Thurs. The panel arose from a 2004 Administration directive to improve spectrum policy. As the USTelecom show wound down Thurs., Gallagher and other Administration members called telecom integral to world affairs. The industry’s value to the economy keeps growing, Gallagher said. “Other countries see innovation as the province of government” but the U.S. believes innovation comes from the private sector, he said. Amid threats, whether computer viruses or outside aggressors, private industry’s engagement lets the U.S. be “nimble,” Gallagher said. “Communications has to be robust so we can communicate no matter what the threat is,” he said: “It’s absolutely critical for homeland security.” David Gross, U.S. coordinator for international communications at the State Dept., said “everyone recognizes the importance of telecommunications for economic development and with broadband the case becomes clearer.” However, there’s another part -- telecom’s use internationally, including issues involving the free flow of information -- that’s increasingly important to U.S. policy, he said. A simple example of telecom’s role in world affairs was the use of cell phones when voting began in Iraq, he said. At first fearful of violence, few Iraqis came to vote, but when those who did saw the polls were safe they reached out via cell phone, greatly increasing turnout, Gross said. “That technology didn’t exist under Saddam,” Gross said. Agriculture Secy. Mike Johanns described the “business case” for developing telecom infrastructure: Without broadband infrastructure, education can be limited, limiting the number of skilled workers and hampering business development, which reduces jobs, ultimately sapping rural communities’ vigor. USDA, which provides loans for broadband infrastructure in rural areas, is “doing what it can to connect rural America because so much is at stake,” Johanns said.