Several public safety entities have launched an initiative to improve information sharing and interoperability among public safety agencies. The National Emergency Alerting & Response Systems (NEARS) initiative needs $18 million in funding to create standards, technology and a directory giving large and small agencies information about emergencies. Partners of the NEARS program include the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA), the Fraternal Order of Police, the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and the ComCare Alliance, which advocates for communications technology for health and safety agencies. Officials at the launch said they would try to find federal funding for NEARS, probably cobbling together a funding package from different agencies or varying grant programs within an agency. The program’s centerpiece is ComCare’s Emergency Provider Access Directory (EPAD), which will be a comprehensive contact list for safety agencies. Officials ran a demonstration of EPAD on Tues. that included 24 states and several federal agencies. Officials said the NEARS system should help resolves some conflicts among safety agencies that have hobbled efforts at increased interoperability. “The project is not intended to resolve all local turf battles,” said Barry Luke, Orange County (Fla.) deputy chief-fire communication. “Those walls are eroding slowly, partly because of the need for information sharing.” Luke said 5% of agencies always will be reluctant to share information. Officials said the technology developed to support NEARS can be built atop legacy systems. Officials said once funding is in hand the system would take 12 months to become operational.
European telecom regulators must be vigilant about protecting competition in the VoIP and other emerging services markets following recent buy-backs by 4 incumbent telcos of their former ISPs, several industry sources said last week. Over the last couple of years, France Telecom re-acquired Wanadoo, Deutsche Telekom (DT) is in the process of reabsorbing T-Online (ISP), and Belgacom resumed control of Skynet. In Feb., Spanish incumbent Telefonica bought out its former ISP, Terra Networks. The reabsorptions aren’t necessarily bad news, but they could lead to competition snarls if regulators don’t head off discriminatory behavior, critics said.
European telecom regulators must be vigilant about protecting competition in the VoIP and other emerging services markets following recent buy-backs by 4 incumbent telcos of their former ISPs, several industry sources said last week. Over the last couple of years, France Telecom re-acquired Wanadoo, Deutsche Telekom (DT) is in the process of reabsorbing T-Online (ISP), and Belgacom resumed control of Skynet. In Feb., Spanish incumbent Telefonica bought out its former ISP, Terra Networks. The reabsorptions aren’t necessarily bad news, but they could lead to competition snarls if regulators don’t head off discriminatory behavior, critics said.
According to Shippers' NewsWire, despite recent positive developments, the scope of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP's) e-Manifest pilot is very limited so far, as there are only four carriers certified to transmit data since the pilot program began December 11, 2005. (Shippers' NewsWire dated 03/17/05, www.americanshipper.com.)
Intellectual property and technology advocates lauded President Bush’s pick for U.S. Trade Representative on Thurs., calling Rep. Portman (R-O.) a friend of the industry who has a firm grasp on free markets and fair trade. The former international trade attorney served in Congress for more than a decade and was a staunch advocate for American manufacturers and entrepreneurs.
A May Hague Conference on Private International Law forum will address a potential fight over the seemingly innocuous issue of electronic notarization of public documents. Some say e-notarizations and e-apostils which authenticate notary signatures in documents sent abroad -- are legal under various U.S. and model laws. But U.S. notaries say those laws only pave the way for eventual e-notarization. Opinions vary over whether to use a particular technology and whether e-notarizations and e-apostils should come under more stringent requirements than paper counterparts.
NEW ORLEANS -- Local number portability was singled out as an example of “good regulation” emerging from the Powell FCC at several regulatory panels during the CTIA convention here. “I think local number portability will forever change” the wireless world, FCC Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta said: “It’s amazing to me that churn went down” after LNP debuted, “because people invested in customer service. I think that was fantastic.” Triton CEO Michael Kilogris called LNP “an example of good regulation because competing forces in the industry weren’t going to voluntarily do that.”
NEW ORLEANS - A clear voice from the FCC would help resolve many problems facing the wireless industry and attract investment dollars, speakers agreed at a policy outlook panel at the CTIA annual convention. “Lack of a clear voice from the FCC is the biggest problem” in addressing jurisdictional and other important issues, Cal. PUC Comr. Susan Kennedy said: “There is no clear path and it’s going to take vision and backbone.” Citigroup Smith Barney Dir. Michael Rollins said “as we have convergence of services and technologies, it would help if regulators could chose one path to regulate. That would provide some clarity.”
The International Cellular Emergency Alert Systems Assn. (CEAS) announced formation of the international Working Group for Advance Warnings to create early warning systems for major natural disasters. The group, consisting of major telecom firms and regulatory bodies, will develop and deploy a global early warning system to alert and advise “citizens-at-risk” of impending disasters via cellular broadcast messaging technology. CEAS said the group at first would be “limited to the dissemination of seismic event warning generated by the proposed United Nations tsunami warning program.” But CEAS said it could expand its brief to include an early warning system for “all manmade and natural disaster events.” Members include Science Applications International Corp., VeriSign, LogicaCMG, CellCast Communications, Microsoft Map Point and the Cell Broadcast Forum.
Several public safety groups sent a letter to all members of Congress urging them to support the proposed Dec. 31, 2006, deadline for DTV transition. In the letter, the groups said issues like new commercial wireless services and spectrum revenue have gotten a lot of attention, but perhaps the most important issue in the DTV transition is reclaiming spectrum for police, firefighters and other public safety officials. “Public safety agencies have been waiting since 1997 for this spectrum,” the letter said. Without the spectrum, “many public safety agencies will be forced to continue operating on dangerously congested radio systems, to postpone activation of fully interoperable radio networks in their regions, and to [forgo] new communications tools needed to enhance law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical services and homeland security,” the letter said. In 1997, Congress allocated 24 MHz of spectrum for public safety in the analog broadcast spectrum. House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R-Tex.) has proposed establishing a deadline for broadcasters to vacate the spectrum. He’s said a bill is coming soon and has the votes to pass. The groups urged Congress to pass the legislation this year. Groups signing the letter included the Assn. of Public-Safety Communications Officials, Congressional Fire Services Institute, International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, National Assn. of Counties, National League of Cities and National Sheriffs’ Assn.