Key European telecom, Internet, TV and music firms put their weight behind plans to spur Europe’s emerging digital economy. Meeting last week with the European Commission (EC), the U.K. presidency and representatives from the upcoming Austrian and Finnish presidencies, the companies said they'll work with the EC and member states toward: (1) Promoting media content markets through effective rights protection, licensing agreements and fostering legitimate content uses. (2) Modernizing single market rules on audiovisual content. (3) Fostering investment in new fixed and mobile broadband networks by adopting e-communications regulations into national law. (4) Ensuring better policy coordination on radio spectrum. (5) Improving user access to content and services using secure and interoperable software and services. In Sept., Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding is slated to unveil proposals for more efficient spectrum use, the EC said. Later this year, the EC will offer a directive on an updated framework for providing audiovisual content services. Endorsing the EC roadmap at last week’s European Business Leaders Summit in London were Thomson, O2, Tiscali, Tele2, Vivendi Universal, Fastweb, France Telecom Home Entertainment, the BBC and BT Group.
As stakeholders and lower courts digest last month’s MGM v. Grokster ruling, uncertainties may emerge. But one thing is certain -- the market for legitimate peer-to-peer (P2P) services will thrive, experts agreed Fri. at a Capitol Hill luncheon. Advocates on both sides of the landmark Supreme Court case said the table is set for a highly competitive, entertainment industry-friendly P2P smorgasbord.
Providers are scrambling to meet a Nov. 28 deadline by which interconnected VoIP providers must offer E-911 services, panelists said Thurs. at the VoIP E-911 Solution Summit in D.C. “Because only 33.6% of American counties have phase 2 wireless,” providers will need a lot of time and money to meet the deadline, said Rick Jones of the National Emergency Numbers Assn. (NENA). The FCC order said interconnected VoIP services must transmit all 911 calls with caller location and call-back number to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), “even if through a third party or CLEC.” Many VoIP providers said they consider the FCC’s decision “aggressive.”
Eleven European Union countries are in hot water with the European Commission (EC) for not adequately adopting various e-communications rules into national law. Letters of formal notice (the first stage in the process of dealing with member states that fail to comply with directives) went to the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Finland, the EC said Thurs. “Reasoned opinions"-- the 2nd phase of infringement proceedings -- went to Latvia and Poland. Breaches cited in the letters included: (1) Failure to make number portability available to mobile service subscribers. (2) Lack of a comprehensive printed directory or directory enquiry service covering fixed and mobile subscribers. (3) Failure to make the European emergency number 112 effectively available. Finland was cited for not having independence of regulation because its ministry has the power to define markets for regulation but also controls govt. ownership of several operators. Moreover, the EC said, Finnish law automatically requires the dominant telco to provide universal service, excluding other operators from consideration. Earlier this year, the EC launched infringement proceedings against 10 member states, charging their laws either are incompatible with EC law or aren’t being applied. The countries had 2 months to respond; the EC said it’s reviewing their comments and hasn’t decided whether to proceed. Allegations against Greece and France of incomplete transposition of the e-communications framework into national law are pending before the European Court of Justice. Member states were supposed to enact the e- communications regulatory package into law in 2002. Their failure to do so is said to be hampering competition in the telecom sector, slowing rollout of high-speed Internet connections and affordable mobile communications.
Eleven European Union countries are in hot water with the European Commission (EC) for not adequately adopting various e-communications rules into national law. Letters of formal notice (the first stage in the process of dealing with member states that fail to comply with directives) went to the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Finland, the EC said Thurs. “Reasoned opinions"-- the 2nd phase of infringement proceedings -- went to Latvia and Poland. Breaches cited in the letters included: (1) Failure to make number portability available to mobile service subscribers. (2) Lack of a comprehensive printed directory or directory enquiry service covering fixed and mobile subscribers. (3) Failure to make the European emergency number 112 effectively available. Finland was cited for not having independence of regulation because its ministry has the power to define markets for regulation but also controls govt. ownership of several operators. Moreover, the EC said, Finnish law automatically requires the dominant telco to provide universal service, excluding other operators from consideration. Earlier this year, the EC launched infringement proceedings against 10 member states, charging their laws either are incompatible with EC law or aren’t being applied. The countries had 2 months to respond; the EC said it’s reviewing their comments and hasn’t decided whether to proceed. Allegations against Greece and France of incomplete transposition of the e-communications framework into national law are pending before the European Court of Justice. Member states were supposed to enact the e- communications regulatory package into law in 2002. Their failure to do so is said to be hampering competition in the telecom sector, slowing rollout of high-speed Internet connections and affordable mobile communications.
Christopher Libertelli, former-senior advisor to ex- FCC Chmn. Michael Powell, opens Washington office for Skype, as dir.-govt. & regulatory affairs… New at Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC): Richard Belden, ex-Micron Technology, named COO; Irene Flannery moves to senior vp-programs; Tony Wilhelm moves to senior dir. of Schools & Libraries Div.; Tanya Sullivan, ex- CoBank, named senior dir.-Education & Communications Div.; David Capozzi, ex-AOL Media Networks, named deputy gen. counsel; Mel Blackwell becomes acting vp of Schools & Libraries Div. and will remain vp of the Rural Health Care Div. as well; Karen Majcher is promoted to vp of the High Cost and Low Income Div.
Cingular or Verizon Wireless likely would face the toughest fight if they emerged as the purchasers of T- Mobile, regulatory sources said Tues. Other potential players, including rumored suitor Vodafone, or less conventional wireless players like Comcast or even Microsoft, would likely have an easier time winning approval, they said.
By 2011, a billion more people will have access to telecommunications, due mainly to wireless industry expansion, said Ambassador David Gross, State Dept. international communications and information policy coordinator, at the Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) conference. The rapid spread of wireless communications has had “significant political and cultural effects, and not just here,” Gross said. Internationally, the wireless boom has lent momentum to regions once decades behind the U.S. technologically, he said. Today more than 100 countries offer WiFi, with some 65,000 hot spots. To facilitate growth, it’s important to “promote competition and prevent excess regulation in other countries,” said Gross.
Australian e-commerce is being battered by identity (ID) crimes, Attorney Gen. Philip Ruddock said Wed. The country’s Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) last month reported that while the incidence of computer and network attacks continues to fall, Internet ID fraud jumped 1200% between April 2004 and April 2005. So the govt. is launching a national ID security strategy, Ruddock said in a keynote speech at the Australian Smart Cards Summit 2005 in Sydney. Australian law enforcement agencies have garnered “significant results” in fighting ID theft, Ruddock said, citing recent shutdowns of almost 1400 phishing sites -- 13 in-country - - as part of a world sweep. But online ID theft to commit fraud is hurting banks and other e-commerce industries to the tune of many millions of dollars, he said. “More than ever before, a growing number of cyberattacks on the Internet are being orchestrated by criminals motivated by illicit financial gain,” AusCERT said. Most use phishing or malware, it said. With a national identity security strategy, govt. would have a common range of quickly verifiable documents to ID clients registering for services, Ruddock said. He dismissed speculation that the govt. is aiming for a national identity card, saying centralized information on a single database only boosts risk of fraud because only one document need be counterfeited to establish identity. Even as Ruddock stressed the growing threat of Internet ID theft, 2 Australian banks Wed. were said to be warning customers of phishing e-mails. Customers clicking onto purported bank websites triggered release of trojans suspected of gathering personal information, Australian IT reported. -- DS
Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.) said he believes that as early as this Sept. Congress will reach a compromise, setting Dec. 31, 2008, as the date on which 24 MHz of radio spectrum in the 700 MHz band -- now used by analog TV - would be cleared for use by first responders. At issue is a requirement in the draft Digital TV Transition bill proposed by House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R- Tex.) that at least 85% of television users in each market be converted to digital television before the channels can be cleared.