The Department of Health and Human Services is reaching out to the FCC for communications expertise, Kevin Yeskey, deputy assistant secretary in the HHS Office of Preparedness and Emergency Operations said Thursday at an HHS-FCC summit on healthcare communications. The meeting at FCC headquarters was the second this week focusing on emergency medical communications (CD Oct 30 p1).
Emergency and other medical communications have lagged behind rapid technology advances elsewhere, members of the Joint Advisory Committee on Communications Capabilities of Emergency Medical and Public Health Care Facilities agreed Monday during its first meeting, at FCC headquarters. The group - a joint effort of the FCC and the NTIA - will prepare a report to Congress on “gaps” in need of improvement, addressing a requirement of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007.
GENEVA -- Early consensus is emerging at the World Radiocommunication Conference to pull three of seven bands from consideration for next-generation wireless, officials said Thursday. But tough talks lie ahead. Conflict is rising over protecting HF and C-band frequencies seeing military use, and active and passive space services are a high priority, officials said.
The Internet is a boon for both terrestrial broadcasters and websites specializing in streaming music, witnesses told a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the radio industry. For-profit and public radio stations are using the Web to serve listeners better, while online-only music outlets are using new technology to personalize radio, the committee was told.
The structure of the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity efforts drew skepticism from the House Oversight Information Policy Subcommittee at a hearing Tuesday. Greg Garcia, assistant secretary for cyber security and communications, said he couldn’t provide answers to several lawmakers’ questions because the subjects weren’t under his purview. The Oversight hearing followed last week’s Homeland Security subcommittee hearing, in which lawmakers’ attention was focused on quasi-regulatory bodies with cybersecurity oversight duties (WID Oct 18 p2).
LONDON -- Access to mobile communications won’t bridge the digital divide in developing economies, several participants said Monday at the Chatham House/International Institute of Communications conference. Operators such as Vodafone invest in African networks up and get them running - - but then return to Europe to finance newly emerging technologies, leaving Africans with only basic services, Cagney Casimire, deputy chairman of the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, said in an interview. Vodafone, however, said “dramatic” evidence shows the benefits to developing nations of mobile access.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued its most recent Unified Business Resumption Message (UBRM) to the trade on October 23, 2007 at 8:00 am stating that the Tecate Port of Entry is 100% closed due to wildfires, and has suggested the trade use the alternative port of entry of Otay Mesa, California.
On October 18, 2007, the President continued for one year the national emergency that was declared on October 21, 1995 by Executive Order (EO) 12978 with respect to significant narcotics traffickers centered in Colombia. (FR Pub 10/19/07, available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/07-5222.pdf)
GENEVA -- Reorganization of ITU-R study groups into space services and terrestrial services bodies will be better for business and governments, but the volume of work means new challenges, officials here said. Opening new spectrum for WiMAX-like services during the WRC is the next step in the technology’s global deployment, but regulators urgently want to improve the definition of unwanted emissions.
Shared Spectrum Company got National Institute of Justice grant to develop a multi-band cognitive radio system intended to optimize public safety spectrum access. Radios with the technology will be able to find and exploit spectrum “holes” for better use of available frequencies. SSC CEO Mark McHenry said “our system gives spectrum and network managers transparent, flexible and adaptable tools to remotely control a large number of radios in a cost- effective, reliable manner.” Under the grant, SSC will study which holes can be exploited safely and public safety’s detailed spectrum access needs. “Cognitive radio technology can address near- and long-term spectrum accessibility problems of public safety agencies,” said Peter Tenhula, SSC vice president. “Unless these issues are solved, they will continue to detract from the agencies’ core missions of emergency response and homeland security.” SSC is working with experts Thera Bradshaw, former chief information officer of Los Angeles, former Office and Engineering and Technology Chief Dale Hatfield, and others.