The commercial space universe is still awaiting its own "devil's rope" -- also known as barbed wire, the invention of which allowed the homesteading and settling of the American West -- to drive more space utilization, said Space Foundation Director-Research and Analytics Micah Walter-Range at a foundation event Tuesday. He said NASA technology development and transfer of that tech to the commercial sphere could be a key policy for helping drive the domestic space industry. He said challenges facing the Russian launch industry could extend for some time, with Russia -- which usually dominates the space launch market -- accounting for 17 launches last year, vs. 22 each in China and the U.S. That loss of market share continued into 2017, he said, with Russia facing possibly its smallest number of launches since the early 1960s. But the Russian launch industry took a nose dive after the fall of the Soviet Union and eventually rebounded, Walter-Range said. He said talk of an emerging Chinese commercial launch industry will likely follow similar models some other nations have followed, with government-supplied vehicles and a commercial marketing arm. Meanwhile, the U.S. workforce dedicated to space is seemingly declining -- compared with employment growth in Europe and Japan -- likely due more to the sector becoming increasingly integrated with other industries so counting jobs that are purely space becomes more problematic, Walter-Range said. He said Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, with the $1 billion in company stock he's cashing out annually for Blue Origin operations, gives him the 10th or 12th largest space budget on the planet, depending on how U.S. agency spending is counted. Walter-Range said the 232 satellites launched in 2016 marked the second consecutive year of declines, mostly due not to a particular downturn in the market but nanosatellite constellations causing a statistical blip.
APCO's executive committee and executive director met with the officers and CEO of the National Emergency Number Association July 29 to discuss joint positions on 911 issues. An APCO official said the group had nothing to say beyond a statement. “The collegial and productive meeting resulted in consensus by both associations for the need for all Next Generation 9-1-1 technologies to be both interoperable and interconnected including equipment currently described as NENA 13 ‘compliant,’” said a Friday joint statement. “The two associations also discussed and agreed on the need for federal funding to enable state and local governments to transition to Next Generation technologies as well as the need for consistent and transparent messaging concerning the current state of Next Generation 9-1-1 equipment offerings.” Look for joint communications on these topics in the next 30 to 60 days, the groups said.
Rivada Networks remains the biggest challenger to AT&T and FirstNet on lobbying states to opt out and build their own networks, industry officials said. It’s not the only rival. Southern Linc has been pursuing a contract with first responders in Alabama and Georgia after being unable to work out a deal with AT&T, the company confirmed. C Spire is going after the contract for Mississippi and possibly other states, industry officials said.
Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., filed their Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (Airwaves) Act Tuesday, as expected (see 1706260064). The bill aims to identify spectrum for unlicensed use and free up mid-band spectrum for wireless industry purchase via a future FCC auction. The bill also would direct the FCC to allocate 10 percent of proceeds from future spectrum auctions toward funding wireless broadband access for unserved and underserved consumers. The bill "offers innovative ways to avoid a spectrum crunch, pave the way for 5G service, and provide critical resources to rural America to continue rural buildout in unserved and underserved areas," Gardner said. The bill got support from the communications sector, along with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O'Rielly. Elements drew praise from a wide range of communications stakeholders, including Verizon, CTIA, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and WifiForward. The bill “shows a clear, bipartisan understanding by Congress that the nation needs real and achievable timelines to meet the continually increasing demands for spectrum from a growing number of American consumers and businesses,” said Verizon Senior Vice President-Federal Government Affairs Robert Fisher. “With new, next-gen wireless applications and services emerging daily, it also confirms that our nation's leaders recognize the importance of making a range of spectrum bands available for commercial mobile broadband.” CTIA believes the bill “provides a much needed long-term plan to unlock valuable licensed spectrum as demand for wireless data and content continues to skyrocket,” Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Kelly Cole said. “A predictable spectrum pipeline is vital to meet consumers' need for new and innovative services and sustain U.S. global leadership in a fast-approaching 5G world.” PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld lauded the bill's rural mobile broadband funding allocation provision, saying it “focuses spending directly on needed broadband infrastructure in a competitively neutral manner, without raising taxes or user fees.” OTI Wireless Future Program Director Michael Calabrese praised elements of the bill but noted there is “an immediate opportunity to share 500 megahertz of underutilized satellite spectrum above 3.7 GHz for more affordable rural and small town broadband that will be lost if the sole focus is raising one-time auction revenue that requires clearing satellite incumbents off the band and takes a decade to implement.”
Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., filed their Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (Airwaves) Act Tuesday, as expected (see 1706260064). The bill aims to identify spectrum for unlicensed use and free up mid-band spectrum for wireless industry purchase via a future FCC auction. The bill also would direct the FCC to allocate 10 percent of proceeds from future spectrum auctions toward funding wireless broadband access for unserved and underserved consumers. The bill "offers innovative ways to avoid a spectrum crunch, pave the way for 5G service, and provide critical resources to rural America to continue rural buildout in unserved and underserved areas," Gardner said. The bill got support from the communications sector, along with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O'Rielly. Elements drew praise from a wide range of communications stakeholders, including Verizon, CTIA, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and WifiForward. The bill “shows a clear, bipartisan understanding by Congress that the nation needs real and achievable timelines to meet the continually increasing demands for spectrum from a growing number of American consumers and businesses,” said Verizon Senior Vice President-Federal Government Affairs Robert Fisher. “With new, next-gen wireless applications and services emerging daily, it also confirms that our nation's leaders recognize the importance of making a range of spectrum bands available for commercial mobile broadband.” CTIA believes the bill “provides a much needed long-term plan to unlock valuable licensed spectrum as demand for wireless data and content continues to skyrocket,” Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Kelly Cole said. “A predictable spectrum pipeline is vital to meet consumers' need for new and innovative services and sustain U.S. global leadership in a fast-approaching 5G world.” PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld lauded the bill's rural mobile broadband funding allocation provision, saying it “focuses spending directly on needed broadband infrastructure in a competitively neutral manner, without raising taxes or user fees.” OTI Wireless Future Program Director Michael Calabrese praised elements of the bill but noted there is “an immediate opportunity to share 500 megahertz of underutilized satellite spectrum above 3.7 GHz for more affordable rural and small town broadband that will be lost if the sole focus is raising one-time auction revenue that requires clearing satellite incumbents off the band and takes a decade to implement.”
Emergency alert system entities, EAS participants and law enforcement organizations divided over whether incidents involving danger to police should have their own EAS code, in comments in FCC docket 15-94 by Monday’s deadline. Most commenters -- including APCO, DOJ (see 1707310045) and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) -- support creating the alert code. Others believe existing codes can serve the same function, and adding another will further dilute effectiveness of the EAS system or increase expense. The proposed BLU event code is “another vanity Event Code intended to meet the needs of the one/few at the expense of further eroding the intrinsic value of mass alerting for more significant and substantive mass call-to-action notifications,” said broadcasting technical service provider McCarthy Radio Enterprises.
President Donald Trump is extending for another year the national emergency declared in the 2007 Executive Order 13441, which blocks all property and interests in property in the U.S., that come within the U.S. or within the possession or control of any U.S. person, including any overseas branch, of certain persons who undermine the sovereignty of Lebanon or its democratic processes or institutions, the White House announced.
Collaboration between government and industry in developing industry-led security standards, plus more public-private information sharing, were some of the top suggestions that technology trade groups and others filed with NTIA, which sought comments on how address botnet and automated threats. Deadline for comments to the agency was Friday and several groups shared their public suggestions with us.
Collaboration between government and industry in developing industry-led security standards, plus more public-private information sharing, were some of the top suggestions that technology trade groups and others filed with NTIA, which sought comments on how address botnet and automated threats. Deadline for comments to the agency was Friday and several groups shared their public suggestions with us.
Collaboration between government and industry in developing industry-led security standards, plus more public-private information sharing, were some of the top suggestions that technology trade groups and others filed with NTIA, which sought comments on how address botnet and automated threats. Deadline for comments to the agency was Friday and several groups shared their public suggestions with us.