Wireless displacement of wireline services is “an emerging reality” among rural youth, said a survey by NTCA and the Foundation for Rural Service. It said the number of rural teens that “rarely” used the landline phone at home jumped to 20% from 13% last year, and the number of those that “never” used it increased to 14% from 6%. “This trend shows the slow but steady progression of the youth market toward complete disassociation from landline phones,” the study said. It said wireless penetration rate among rural teens was “significantly higher” than estimates for the youth market nationally, with 86% of rural respondents saying they had their own wireless phones. While voice remained dominant in rural areas, the study said text messaging was catching on. It said frequency of wireless phone use among rural teens was on the rise, with 45% of respondents saying they “always” used their wireless phones, up from 38% last year. It said 98% of respondents used their wireless phones “most often” for voice calls, proving voice was “still the killer app, despite increasing industry hype surrounding wireless data services.” But it said text messaging had gained popularity, with 12% of respondents saying they “frequently” used that feature on their phones, compared to 6% last year. The number of respondents saying they “never” used text messaging dropped to 46% from 62%. The study said only 5% of the respondents with wireless service were using prepaid service, compared to 7% last year. Of those with prepaid service, 50% said they had it because their parents bought their phone and plan. “Parental decision makers are a major force behind prepaid wireless, a factor that rural carriers should consider when marketing such services,” the study said. The study also said parents mostly supported traditional contract wireless services, with 60% of respondents saying their parents bought their phones and paid for the service. Safety issues were the main motivation for parental purchases, it said. “The Youth market is vitally important to wireless service providers,” said NTCA Economist Rick Schadelbauer. Citing a Yankee Group report, he said by year-end, 11-24 year old consumers would generate $21 billion in revenue for wireless carriers and represent almost 1/4 of the total cellular market. He also said 56% of NTCA member companies were providing wireless service to their customers and another 23% were considering doing so in the near future.
Interpol and the World Customs Organization (WCO) joined forces in Brussels to host the First Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting. But conspicuous for their absence were representatives of the music and movie industries.
The Irish govt. this week announced plans to create a national register of next-generation 3G phones, aimed at safeguarding children. Communications Minister Dermot Ahern said that with 3G mobile phones capable of carrying video clips set to emerge later this year, children need more protection than is available with prepaid phones. “A national register of picture phones has proven impractical by virtue of the fact that we already had millions of GSM handsets in existence when picture-phones became available,” Ahern said: “But 3G is different.” Ahern said the govt. intends to work with the Irish Cellular Industry Assn. (ICIA) to establish the registry, and is trying to form a working group to develop proposals. However, he said, while he understands that industry wants to recoup infrastructure investment and doesn’t want to be saddled with onerous responsibilities, the need to protect children is an “absolute necessity.” Under the registry scheme, anyone who buys a 3G phone will have to provide name, address and other identifying information, a govt. spokesman told us. Asked whether the register could raise privacy or data protection concerns, the spokesman said any “privacy issues that might obtain would be no different to what currently applies.” Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner would oversee such issues, he said. As to whether Ahern expects industry opposition to his proposal, the spokesman said, “he has a very good working relationship with the mobile industry. He believes they understand why he is holding this view and the necessity for it.” ICIA Chmn. Joan Keating confirmed the group has had preliminary talks with the govt. However, she said, operators are “unclear about the usefulness of doing [the register] or what purpose it will serve.” Among the many details to be nailed down are how the accuracy of such a list can be ensured, how the information will be gathered, and who will pay for building and maintaining the register. Ireland now has 3.4 million mobile phones, with a penetration rate of 87% at the end of 2003, the govt. said. About 80% of Irish operators’ prepaid phone customers are already voluntarily registered under various incentive programs, Keating told us.
The FCC’s IP rulemaking is so vague that it’s impossible to provide a regulatory analysis of its impact, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The Dept. of Homeland Security, meanwhile, said the FCC may need to become even more active in regulating IP-enabled services, in comments on the FCC rulemaking (CD June 1 p1). Other commenters questioned the FCC’s authority to regulate IP services at all.
The National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) is pushing a new angle in efforts to get stalled Enhanced 911 (E911) legislation through Congress. Seizing on the interest in new services like VoIP, NENA is presenting the case that E911 legislation is essential because it would establish a National Coordinating Office in the federal govt. That office would help integrate 911 services to VoIP and other new services, like Wi-Fi and Blackberries, said NENA Govt. Affairs Dir. Stephen Seitz. The national coordination office was the top priority cited in a document NENA delivered to Congress last week, ahead of funding.
LCOS developers are quickly shifting attention to developing 1080p-capable microdisplays, despite the relatively short time 720p versions have been on the market. Rear projection TVs containing a 1080p-capable display may at first command a 25-30% premium over 720p-equipped models, but the gap will narrow as component costs decline and 1080p grabs the lead within 36-48 months, said Rainer Kuhn, senior vp at Brillian, which plans to ship 0.7” and 0.8” 1080p LCOS chips in 2005.
Groups that hold ITFS spectrum are seeking a last-minute meeting with FCC Chmn. Powell to head off a proposal that they give up 18 MHz of spectrum as part of a final rule on the MMDS/ITFS spectrum allocation, which is being circulated at the FCC for a possible June 10 vote. Sources in the ITFS community said Tues. they were caught off guard by the proposal that they give up bite size chunks of spectrum as part of the order.
Washington Trade Daily reports that the outlook for Congressional consideration of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has improved as the Speaker of the House of Representatives has indicated that he will no longer stand in the way of the FTA. According to the article, the House is expected to consider U.S.-Australia FTA implementing legislation sometime in summer 2004. (See ITT's Online Archives or 05/20/04 news, 04052005, for BP summary on the signing of the U.S.-Australia FTA.) (WTD dated 05/19/04, www.washingtontradedaily.com .)
Communications problems figure huge in a 26-page staff report to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the U.S. on emergency response, released as the commission met in Manhattan Tues. to take testimony on emergency response. The report described a series of communications breakdowns during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, including between police officers and firefighters. Former Sen. Gorton, a member of the commission, said one of the most distressing parts of the report was the failure of 911 services: “Calling 911 on Sept. 11 was a pointless exercise. They didn’t know as much as someone at home watching television.”
“If we have the most competitive broadband market in the world we'll have the best broadband market in the world,” said John Kneuer, counselor to the Dept. of Commerce and chief of President Bush’s broadband initiative, during a Heritage Foundation panel Thurs. Kneuer pushed for little or no economic regulation of broadband and emerging VoIP technologies, but said “we don’t want to let go of social regulation,” like e-911. Former Congressman David McIntosh, who headed Vice President Dan Quayle’s telecom deregulation task force, drew the distinction between “industrial policy,” in which govt. sets prices, prefers certain providers, and creates the rules, and larger initiatives to set national technology goals. “Avoid subsidies. They don’t work,” he said. Both McIntosh and Intel’s Peter Pitsch said some govt. investment may become politically necessary to allow for broadband penetration in costly, investor-unfriendly areas. Pitsch, also former FCC chief of staff, called for a “more aggressive” FCC on long-term spectrum reform. Former FCC Comr. Harold Furchtgott-Roth was most vocal in his support for Bush’s initiative, framing the initiative in terms of the Nov. election. “We should be claiming victory on broadband,” he said, adding that Democratic nominee John Kerry and his telecom advisor Reed Hundt have a program that’s “less effective and millions more costly.” “We already have universal broadband” thanks to the President’s policies, Furchtgott-Roth said, and called it a myth that “the government needs an ambitious broadband agenda.”