BOSTON -- FCC Comr. Tate made a surprise Mon. visit to the VON conference, asking VoIP industry help in guarding kids from inappropriate video programming. Tate told the group she was at the conference “in a listening and learning mode.” But since VoIP providers’ entry into video is a conference theme, maybe the industry “could help us provide tools for parents as you get into video,” she said. Tate knows the issue hadn’t been raised with industry, but it’s important to keep in mind in considering provision of video, she said.
Emergency alert legislation could be enacted as part of the port security bill moving through the Senate, key House and Senate committee staffers said Fri. at an FCBA lunch. Sen. DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced the Warning, Alert & Response Network (WARN) Act as an amendment to the port bill (HR-4954) Thurs. The Senate Commerce Committee approved the Warn Act by unanimous consent Oct. 20. It establishes a network for transmitting alerts across communications including cellphones, BlackBerrys, Internet, TV, radio and satellite TV.
T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless are poised to pick up chunks of spectrum that could prove valuable to their overall portfolios, based on bidding in the AWS auction, which is entering late stages, analysts and other observers said. To a lesser extent, so too are Cingular, Leap and MetroPCS, they said. In the auction’s late stages, bids totaled $13.8 billion late Fri.
XM told the FCC it’s working with several U.S. agencies on emergency alerts. The FCC is weighing an order on state and local emergency alert system (EAS) matters, XM said. The satellite radio operator is helping upgrade the Presidential level EAS by providing XM receivers to U.S. primary entry points (PEPs) and state emergency operations centers, it said. XM also is working with FEMA and NOAA on the Digital Emergency Alert System-National Capital Region pilot program, officials said in an FCC ex parte meeting. Meanwhile, XM is developing a crank radio capable of receiving XM broadcasts during power outages, officials said. XM will carry national EAS messages on all its channels, and state and local alerts on its traffic and weather channels, it said.
XM told the FCC it’s working with several U.S. agencies on emergency alerts. The FCC is weighing an order on state and local emergency alert system (EAS) matters, XM said. The satellite radio operator is helping upgrade the Presidential level EAS by providing XM receivers to U.S. primary entry points (PEPs) and state emergency operations centers, it said. XM also is working with FEMA and NOAA on the Digital Emergency Alert System-National Capital Region pilot program, officials said in an FCC ex parte meeting. Meanwhile, XM is developing a crank radio capable of receiving XM broadcasts during power outages, officials said. XM will carry national EAS messages on all its channels, and state and local alerts on its traffic and weather channels, it said.
The new public safety mesh network in Providence won’t operate over the 4.9 GHz band allocated by the FCC and DHS for public safety, but that’s not surprising, according to experts who spoke with Communications Daily this week. Because of the poor propagation characteristics of that band, Providence and other cities are choosing other bands for their networks, they said. Some expressed concern that the lack of a national standard could cause trouble down the road for any planned nationally interoperable network.
LONDON -- British Commonwealth members may run the gamut from industrial nations to struggling African countries, but all agree mobile communications are a key economic driver, they said here Mon. Mobile phones have become “essential tools” of life, with some 2 billion in use worldwide, said Margaret Hodge, U.K. minister for industry, Dept. for Trade & Industry. She was speaking at the Commonwealth Telecom Organization (CTO) Forum. In Africa, cellphones are the “symbol” of use of information & communications technologies (ICTs), with air time traded like currency, she said.
Mobile operators can block service to stolen phones but don’t often do so, and that’s fueling a problem in Africa, Nokia Dir.-Strategy & Business Development, New Growth Markets Petteri Terho said Tues. at the Commonwealth Telecom Organization conference in London. In S. Africa, 30% of phones are stolen and recycled, said William Hearmon, African CDMA Forum chmn. Operators claim a social duty to cut services when that happens but care more about getting paid, he said. Unlike in the U.S. and other industrialized nations, in Africa concern over stolen mobiles is less about identity theft -- Africans “don’t give a damn” about that, he told us -- than about losing one’s phone, Terho said. A Ghanaian legislator agreed theft is on the upswing, and both men asked operators what they intend to do about it. The matter involves 2 issues, said GSM Assn. (GSMA) chief govt. & regulatory affairs officer Tom Phillips. Many stolen phones are sold in the gray market and emerging economies, spurred by the cost of high-quality phones, a factor govts. could reduce by cutting taxes on entry-level phones, said Phillips. Operators could help by regularly polling central equipment registers to see if a phone’s unique identifier is showing up as stolen and if so, blocking service, he said. GSM members often do that, and that service is available to all operators in the GSM world, Phillips said.
LONDON -- Mobile rules that work in developed nations don’t necessarily fit emerging economies, speakers said here Tues. at the Commonwealth Telecom Organization (CTO) forum. Govts. in developing countries should cast policy in the context of broader social and economic issues, Vodafone Group Services International Policy Dir. Neil Gough said. He and others urged caution in forcing one-size-fits-all solutions on developing countries.
The President of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America's (NCBFAA) has issued a letter to the Chair of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Subcommittee in the Office of the U.S Trade Representative (USTR) calling on the administration to work closely with Congress to ensure a timely, long-term renewal of the GSP beyond its December 31, 2006 expiration date. (See ITT's Online Archives or 08/11/06 news, 06081110, for BP summary of USTR's request for comments on changes, etc. to the GSP program.)(NCBFAA letter, announcement dated 08/31/06, available via email by sending a request to documents@brokerpower.com)