Proposals for the economic stimulus package should deal only with programs that create jobs and spend quickly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has told Congress. Reid hopes to get a package ready by Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, and is encouraging committees to gather ideas from their areas of jurisdiction for inclusion for the Senate version of the bill, according to a recent memo. It listed energy, infrastructure, health care, education and protecting the “most vulnerable” as top priorities for the package.
Proposals for the economic stimulus package should deal only with programs that create jobs and spend quickly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has told Congress. Reid hopes to get a package ready by Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, and is encouraging committees to gather ideas from their areas of jurisdiction for inclusion for the Senate version of the bill, according to a recent memo. Telecom groups have filed many proposals with the transition team. Many recommend grants and tax incentives for infrastructure buildout that the groups say would create jobs. Free Press has proposed a $44 billion broadband wish list in one of the most ambitious plans presented to the transition team. It includes incentives for infrastructure buildout and sets a goal of building an all-fiber, 100 Mbps nationwide network. The Communications Workers of America told Congress that every $5 billion invested in broadband infrastructure would create 100,000 jobs in technology business and 2.5 million jobs throughout the economy. A CWA proposal has been endorsed by the Telecommunications Industry Association and Fiber-to-the-Home Council. The CTIA wants the incoming administration to promote wireless broadband investment. It filed papers with the transition team proposing that additional spectrum be allocated for mobile broadband services and that regulatory roadblocks to installation of towers and other wireless gear be removed. The CTIA, like other telecom groups, suggests that the universal service program be used to support broadband deployment in rural areas. Public safety groups want the incoming administration to keep their needs in mind as broadband programs are hammered out for the stimulus package. The Public Safety Spectrum Trust wants the federal government to allocate $15 billion of the stimulus package to complete a nationwide 700 MHz shared wireless broadband network that would serve public safety needs and extend services to underserved parts of the country, the group said in a letter to the transition team last week. The broadband provisions probably will include grants of $20-$25 billion for investment in new networks in unserved areas, said Cisco Technology Director Jeff Campbell. This will create many new jobs in the technology sector and blue collar areas, he said. The grants should be tied to services of at least a minimum speed, perhaps 10 Mbps, he said. The benefit of such a program is that it’s one-shot spending, he said. The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association suggests that policymakers consider providing emergency federal right-of-way rules to hasten broadband deployment. The incoming administration, or Congress, also should establish a national broadband transmission-speed goal that “evolves with consumer demand and technological advances,” the group said in a letter to Congress and the transition team. The Senate and House are working on legislation with the transition team, Hill offices said. The broadband proposals are largely under the jurisdiction of the congressional Commerce Committees, but tax and spending provisions will require involvement by the tax and appropriations committees, as lawmakers move closer to tallying up a spending package. Estimates of the total are $850 billion to $1 trillion.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology would be asked to come up with standards for the emerging health IT efforts under legislation that Rep. Bart Gordon, chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, said he expects to re-introduce next Congress. Gordon said he’s worried that the multiple projects will lack interoperability. NIST can develop the standards without political influence, he said.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology would be asked to come up with standards for the emerging health IT efforts under legislation that Rep. Bart Gordon, chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, said he expects to re-introduce next Congress. The Tennessee Democrat said he’s worried that the multiple projects will lack interoperability. NIST can develop the standards without political influence, he said.
Information Sharing and Analysis Centers can play a bigger role in securing cyberspace and critical infrastructures, according to recommendations to the next administration developed by the ISAC Council. The financial services center, for example, has grown from 68 members in 2004 to 4,200, said its executive director, Bill Nelson, and it does more for its members than simply provide alerts. The center puts out white papers and briefings, and allows members to make anonymous reports of attempted attacks, encouraging information-sharing among competitors, he said. The financial services center can reach 99 percent of banks and credit unions, according to the ISAC Council. It can warn members of new phishing attacks. Nelson said more phishing attacks are targeting upper-level executives, and the attacks arrive in official-looking documents from a court or the Better Business Bureau. He predicted more attacks on brokerages and the possibility that a nation-state could target the U.S. financial system. The center has made a list of 45 recommendations for its own improvement that it will be implementing, he said. John Sabo, director of global government relations at CA, said it’s important that the centers develop yardsticks for their performance. Jacob Olcott, director of the subcommittee on emerging threats, cybersecurity and science and technology of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the performance of the centers varies, and each industry must look to how its center can function best. Olcott said it’s important for the “geek” community to be able to communicate with policymakers to explain threats. A challenge for Congress is that no single committee has jurisdiction over cybersecurity, he said. But Congress is the only body that can get all the groups responsible for cybersecurity talking, he said. “Congress is the ultimate stovepipe eliminator,” he said. Like Sabo, Mischel Kwon, director of the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, said cybersecurity worries aren’t new. But the way of looking at those concerns is, she said. “They're not attacking us to attack our machines… They're trying to affect our mission and that makes it most important for us to change the way we look at security.”
With up to four million expected to be on hand, CTIA warned of dropped calls when using wireless devices during the Presidential Inauguration events in Washington on Jan. 20. Major U.S. wireless carriers said they've spent millions to prepare for the big day, though they remain cautious.
Specifications for preferential telecommunications over IPCablecom2 networks are ready for approval at a February meeting of the ITU-T’s lead study group on integrated broadband cable and television networks, said editors of the recommendation. IPCablecom2 is the international equivalent of PacketCable 2.0, but with minor adjustments to deal with region-specific needs. The editors are from the U.S. National Communications System, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Science Applications International Corporation. The proposed recommendation is one of a series, according to the draft text. Preferential telecommunications include provisions for authentication and priority, for example, special handling. The specifications don’t apply to ordinary emergency calls, for example to police, fire department, ambulance, the text said. Specifications for preemption and authorization are considered national matters and are outside the scope of the recommendation, it said. Consultation with ITU member countries will be required for final approval.
With up to four million expected to be on hand, CTIA warned of dropped calls when using wireless devices during the Presidential Inauguration events in Washington on Jan. 20. Major U.S. wireless carriers said they've spent millions to prepare for the big day, though they remain cautious. The wireless industry is preparing for “record traffic” during the Inauguration and “there will likely be some delays,” said CTIA President Steve Largent. CTIA warned that some dropped calls and network difficulties will be inevitable, especially if crowds exceed projections. To lessen the load on the network, the trade group suggested sending text messages rather than making phone calls, and holding off sending any photos. Text messages and e-mails can get through when voice calls sometimes fail, it said. AT&T, whose planning began in August, is well prepared, a spokeswoman said. As part of its preparation, the carrier has spent $4 million on network capacity, she said. The company plans for an 80 percent boost in 3G network capacity and a 69 percent boost in 2G network capacity along the National Mall and parts of Georgetown areas. Sprint Nextel’s network wouldn’t have problems handling a two-million crowd, a spokesman said. There will only be minor problems if the number of attendees reaches four million, he said, stressing that public safety responders won’t encounter any problems on Sprint’s network. The carrier, which started preparation in April, has deployed additional phone lines and beefed up equipment at cell towers, he said. It’s boosting its CDMA capabilities by 40 percent and its iDEN capabilities by 90 percent, he said. Verizon and T-Mobile are doing the same. T-Mobile has added voice and data capacity to some 100 cell sites in the D.C. area, a spokeswoman said. For further high-speed data movement, it has added Tier 1 lines to all of its 3G cell sites around the Mall and surrounding area, she said. It’s configuring its network to support the expected large number of people sending text messages, pictures and videos. It’s working with government agencies to place cells-on-wheels to further cover high-demand spots throughout the Mall area. Its investments to support consumer wireless coverage and emergency personnel at the Inauguration run into millions, the spokeswoman said. Verizon’s not revealing the cost of its planning or infrastructure additions at this time, a spokeswoman said.
The new administration should regularly hold formal briefings on telecommunications issues, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners said in a letter last week to the Obama-Biden Transition Team. NARUC offered its expertise on legislative debates likely to arise in the new Congress and urged that policymakers not limit state enforcement power in creating regulatory policy. The FCC shouldn’t limit states’ ability to handle new consumer abuses or market issues, NARUC said. “States are almost always the first to provide relief when new abuses … emerge,” the letter said. NARUC also asked the incoming president to appoint state commissioners and former ones to vacancies on the FCC and other posts involving telecom, and have the administration take part in NARUC meetings. State commissioners have “real world experience” that can be helpful to the new administration, the group said.
By 2020 the Internet could develop into a series of partitioned sectors in response to concerns about spam and cybercrime, some Internet experts and futurists said, but it won’t be completely rebuilt. They were responding to a series of scenarios proposed by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in its third Future of the Internet survey. More than 1,000 people responded to Pew’s scenarios, designed not to be predictive but provocative, said Janna Anderson, an Elon University professor and a co-author of a report on the research.