The U.K. Office of Communications (OFCOM) Thurs. announced steps aimed at boosting competition in “broaderband” data, voice and content services. The regulator: (1) Launched a market review consultation on local loop unbundling (LLU). (2) Published a final statement on its wholesale broadband access market review. (3) Said it will create the office of Telecoms Adjudicator to monitor the swift development of LLU processes. At the same time, incumbent British Telecom (BT) agreed to cut prices for its LLU products, saying it hoped the move would reduce the need for future regulation.
With commissioners noting the complexity of the issue, the FCC at its agenda meeting Thurs. clarified some of its rules for CLEC access charges, but generally affirmed a 3- year-old order limiting how much CLECs can charge. FCC Wireline Bureau Chief William Maher said the agency opted to deny petitions for reconsideration that it thought would have resulted in higher access rates.
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the U.S. will look at first response issues, including communications, at a 2-day meeting starting May 18 in N.Y. In part, the session will focus on first response during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “The Commission also will explore the state of the emergency preparedness and response today,” said Commission Vice Chmn. Lee Hamilton, including “whether we need national standards of preparedness.”
The European Union (EU) is making “remarkable progress” in broadband growth, and there’s every reason to believe it will continue, Information Society Comr. Erkki Liikanen said Tues. From Jan. 2003-Jan. 2004, the number of individuals and businesses accessing high-speed Internet jumped 80%, Liikanen said at a news briefing on a European Commission (EC) communication on national broadband strategies slated for adoption today (Wed.). Wireline continues to dominate European broadband, he said but wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, 3G and satellites are beginning to show up in the market. Too, he said, “mobile is really moving from voice to data.” Between this and last Jan., Liikanen said, broadband growth in top performers Denmark and Belgium continued at a fast clip, while deployment in other member states, which has lagged, is starting to pop. Korea leads the world in broadband takeup -- it’s in 67% of Korean households -- but the market there is becoming saturated, he said. European countries now compare “rather favorably” in the global picture, he said. All 15 original member states have unveiled broadband strategies and the 10 new member countries will do so later this year, Liikanen said. The various national plans share certain characteristics, he said, including the desire to give the market a chance to work before regulating. However, he said, in areas less densely populated, the market isn’t working and the “last mile must be opened for competition.” The public sector must try to foster uptake by using broadband as a platform for connecting schools, hospitals and local govts. to provide e-health, e- govt., and distance learning services, he said. Many member states admitted May 1 are already approaching the level of the original 15 in mobile services, Liikanen said, and some are closing in on the EU-15 in Internet usage. Once new members have fully implemented the EU’s new regulatory framework -- 4 have yet to do so -- the situation could change quickly, he said. The challenge will be for the EU-10 to guarantee such things as independent regulatory schemes and universal service via fixed and mobile networks, he said. In their favor, Liikanen said, the 10 accession countries are strong in the science and math arenas and they already have a good record of being able to move toward Internet adoption without going through all the steps the EU-15 had to negotiate. Asked to explain why broadband rollout is faster in Europe despite the availability of better content in the U.S., Liikanen said the U.S.’s commitment to broadband uptake has waned in the last year or 2 while Europe and Asia have made it a higher priority. The EU has made broadband promotion a public policy issue, has fixed targets where govt. can make a difference and has mobilized regions throughout Europe that have mapped their current and future deployment. There are challenges on the content side, he said -- Europe needs multilingual content, digital rights management (DRM) technologies, and more security online. DRM is a longterm solution that could benefit business, individual users and carriers, he said, but it must have open standards and be interoperable. Asked if he'd back doing away with intellectual property-related levies charged on various devices, Liikanen said in principle, commercial users should pay for services online as well as offline. On other topics, Liikanen said: (1) VoIP “in principle” shouldn’t be regulated because it’s a new technology. However, he said, the EC is looking into whether VoIP offerings can fulfill universal service obligations such as access to emergency services without regulation. (2) All regulatory steps for the launch of new top-level domain .eu are complete. By July, the EC hopes to have signed agreements with both the new .eu registry and ICANN. By Sept., the registry should be up and running, and a sunrise registration period for trademarked and other protected names launched. Liikanen wouldn’t disclose how much .eu domains will cost, saying only the price “should be reasonable.”
Because the mobile sector is critical to Europe’s success in the information and communications technology arena, the European Commission (EC) is pushing to ensure its viability, Information Society Comr. Erkki Liikanen said Mon. at the IFT World Mobile Communications Conference in London. First, he said, the EC has adopted a new, technology-neutral regulatory framework that aims to give the market legal certainty. Regulation of the mobile sector arises in 2 ways, Liikanen said. Mobile operators can be subject to general obligations such as the requirements to negotiate interconnection and to give users access to number portability. Second, he said, conditions could be imposed on those operators deemed to have significant power in the markets covering mobile access and call origination, call termination and international roaming. The EC’s position is that the access and origination market isn’t likely to appear in a future recommendation on relevant markets, Liikanen said. However, existing “proportionate regulation” is needed to bring down termination rates, and the EC is looking into the possibility of regulation on international roaming. Furthermore, he said, new antitrust remedies recently adopted by national regulatory authorities through the European Regulators Group will foster a predictable system of regulation. The document clarifies that mobile broadband data services are considered an emerging market, meaning they're not subject to some prior regulation, Liikanen said. He listed several actions underway for the mobile sector: (1) “The Mobile Platform,” in which CEOs of major players discuss 3G rollout. The EC will issue a communication focused on the mobile sector in July, he said. (2) M- payments. The EC will launch a consultation to find a solution that takes account of the lower security risks involved in mobile operators’ payment services. (3) Planning for sufficient spectrum for mobile communications, including the possibility of secondary trading. (4) An inquiry into the availability of high value content on 3G networks. Liikanen stressed the importance of “normal commercial negotiation between parties” in the mobile sector, saying it’s “preferable to a regulated outcome.”
The National Communications System (NCS) is poised to add several other major carriers, including Cingular, AT&T Wireless and Nextel, to its wireless priority service (WPS) program, NCS said. Only T-Mobile USA has a WPS contract. Program Dir. John Graves said T-Mobile will reach “full operating capability this summer,” and NCS will expand the program to other national GSM wireless carriers. Graves also said T-Mobile, which started providing WPS in New York and Washington in spring 2002, now offers initial operating capability services “to a majority of their coverage areas around the country.” WPS provides national security and rescue workers priority access to wireless networks during emergencies.
Choosing what it considers the lesser evil, the National Assn. of Counties (NACo) last week urged Congress to “quickly pass” S-150 by Sen. Allen (R-Va.), a bill that as amended would revive the moratorium on Internet access taxes 4 years. S-150 cleared the Senate after being amended on a 93-3 vote. By not making the moratorium permanent, the bill “allows Congress to continue the study of emerging technologies,” NACo said, adding that the compromise reached on the legislation during floor debate “maintains an equitable definition of ‘access.'” NACo opposed the original Allen bill, as well as the initial compromise offered by Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.). But NACo Deputy Legislative Dir. Jeff Arnold said compromise language clarifying that S-150 wouldn’t prevent states from collecting taxes on VoIP “should be considered a huge victory for local and state governments because it substantially reduces the potential for a major unfunded mandate. Arnold also said NACo was pleased states that had taxed Internet access before the original 1998 moratorium will be permitted to continue doing so for the length of the extended moratorium; the original McCain language ended the grandfathering after 3 years. S-150’s next likely step is a conference with the House, which passed HR-49 by Rep. Cox (R-Cal.) last summer. That bill makes the moratorium permanent, ends grandfathered taxes immediately and doesn’t address VoIP. NACo said HR-49 “gives major tax breaks to the telecommunications industry.”
The Bush Administration isn’t doing enough to push for funding for first response, including communications interoperability, senior Senate Democrats said at the annual National Fire & Emergency Services Dinner Wed. Sen. Sarbanes (D-Md.) cited “tens and tens of billions of dollars’ shortfall in the needs of America’s responders over the next 5 to 10 years.” Sen. Biden (D-Del.) said first responders “need several billion dollars and we need it quickly.” But he said members from both parties would “fight like hell” for more first response money. Vice President Cheney keynoted the dinner but didn’t mention communications. “As you meet your responsibilities, the federal government must do its part in providing the resources that our firefighters need,” Cheney said.
Demand for P2P VoIP software “may be seriously hampered in the event the technology is overregulated,” VoIP software maker Skype said in comments to the European Commission (EC). It said it was concerned with “2 main regulatory issues that may create major obstacles for important enhancements to consumer communications that VoIP may bring": (1) “The possibly far-reaching obligations” in the EC’s new regulatory framework (NRF). Skype said the Commission did “not have P2P VoIP software in mind when it drafted and adopted” the framework. It said if offering VoIP enabling software fell under the NRF, “providers like Skype will be confronted with far-reaching obligations to offer facilities and services such as access to emergency services, data retention, wire tapping and number portability.” It said while those obligations were “rightfully imposed” on traditional telecom providers, they shouldn’t apply to providers of P2P VoIP software. For example, it said it would be technically “impossible” for VoIP providers like Skype to provide access to emergency service, since “it will not be possible to provide address data from VoIP users, because of the nomadic character of the VoIP service.” Skype also stressed that PSTN service providers already were obligated to provide facilities for law enforcement interception, and it was “unnecessary” to require that of providers like Skype: “In the event a VoIP user is connected through a gateway to the PSTN, in order to call a user connected to the PSTN, this call can already be intercepted using the facilities of the gateway or of the PSTN provider,” it said. (2) Different, possibly conflicting regulations and enforcement in European member states. Skype said this “undesirable and impractical situation may hinder the development of transborder VoIP services, which will have negative effects for the creation of the internal market and which will work against the objective of the European Union to harmonize the European market.” Skype suggested adopting a “country of origin rule,” under which VoIP providers would need only comply with the laws of its home member state. Skype also urged the Commission to adopt “a harmonized set of objectives and principles” on VoIP so national regulatory authorities can coordinate.
BenQ is dropping plasma displays, sharpening its focus LCD TVs and PC monitors and readying a mix of products designed to widen its retail distribution, senior executives told Consumer Electronics Daily.