Civil penalties would double for activities that “exploit popular reaction to an emergency or major disaster” under a bill approved Tues. by the House. The American Spirit Fraud Prevention Act (HR-3675) followed security analyst alerts that online scammers were fooling e-mail users into donating to fake Katrina charities (WID Sept 2 p1).
NENA has formed a task force to set up a national cadre of telecommunicator emergency response teams to safeguard 911 service during crises. The group, made up of NENA and APCO state representatives, met Oct. 25 in Greensboro, N.C., and will meet Jan. 23 in Anaheim during the Cal. NENA chapter annual meeting. The aim is to help states prepare “deploy trained, recognized teams of telecommunicators whenever a local 911 infrastructure is compromised by a natural disaster or terrorist event,” NENA said.
Guarding intellectual property (IP) is vital to economic growth and global competitiveness and has major implications for a country’s ability to promote security and stability, Commerce Dept. Secy. Carlos Gutierrez told an international judges’ luncheon Tues. Countries like China, Russia, Brazil and India are seeing “they cannot sustain an advanced economy” without IP protections, he told judges from 30 countries whose 3-day meeting in Washington ends today (Wed.).
LAS VEGAS -- The CTOs for the 4 Bells said they're looking closely at WiMAX but haven’t decided how much they will deploy the emerging standard in their networks or whether it will ultimately live up to the hype. The CTOs also indicated they aren’t sure which spectral range would best accommodate WiMAX or how much they may invest in 700 MHz spectrum, another topic getting considerable attention in recent months. The CTOs spoke on a kickoff panel late Mon. of Telecom ‘05 here, sponsored by USTelecom and ATIS.
The FCC is set to expand emergency alert system (EAS) requirements to include satellite radio and other digital platforms as the Commission prepares to seek comment on its role in enabling such alerts on new technologies, sources said. The Commission said late Fri. that this week’s meeting will include consideration of EAS rules, as had been expected (CD Oct 17 p11). The FCC document wasn’t more specific, as is typical in so-called Sunshine notices.
Kiosks continued to outperform core stores in sales of wireless products at RadioShack 3rd quarter, the chain said Fri. Core-store wireless sales, though lower than a year ago, managed to improve sequentially each month of the quarter, the company said. Total wireless sales in the quarter jumped 15%.
A Justice Dept. review of the Intelsat-PanAmSat merger is progressing, as shown in a 2nd round of requests by Justice officials for information from the firms, Intelsat CEO David McGlade said Thurs. Speaking at a Washington Space Business Roundtable lunch, McGlade said, “They're interviewing customers as we speak.” The firms still hope to complete their merger in 6-12 months, he said. The FCC’s public review of the proposed transaction launched this week, with the first round of pleading cycle comments and petitions due Nov. 14, replies Dec. 6 (IB docket no. 05-290).
As Deutsche Telekom (DT) prepares to spend billions on new optical fiber lines in Germany, competitors fear being squeezed out. A question that seems largely settled in the U.S. -- the extent to which and price at which incumbent telcos must give rivals access to local fiber loops -- is still unresolved in the European Union (EU). The murk has prompted one telecom expert to urge the European Commission (EC) to revisit the issue in next year’s major review of European e-communications laws.
The Senate Commerce Committee Thurs. voted 19-3 to report out a DTV bill that includes $3 billion in converter box subsidies and $1.2 billion for an emergency communications program. The bill, which fulfills the committee’s budgetary responsibility to raise $4.8 billion, goes to the Senate Budget Committee, where it will be included in an overall reconciliation bill scheduled for markup Oct. 26.
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has issued a press release announcing that in order to gain a better understanding of current conditions at U.S. ports, it conducted an October 2005 industry briefing by members of the National Association of Waterfront Employers (NAWE). At the briefing, marine terminal operators discussed improvements in port productivity as a result of the PierPASS Program. Other topics included: the impact of increasing cargo volumes on constrained port, marine terminal, rail, and highway infrastructures; additional ways to keep cargo moving through the U.S. transportation grid, etc. (FMC press release NR 05-17, dated 10/19/05, available at