Europe needs a coherent policy to allow people with disabilities to take advantage of new e-communications products and services such as digital TV, mobile telephony and online services, the European Commission (EC) said Wed. The policy should address regulation, research and standardization, the EC said at a stakeholder conference in Brussels organized by the U.K. Royal National Institute for the Deaf. Regulatory action is needed to increase access to the Information Society by the deaf and hard-of hearing, the EC said. Many emergency call centers are unable to recognize when they're being contacted by someone with a text telephone, there may be interference between mobile phones and some hearing aids, and access must be affordable as well as possible, the Commission said. Moreover, it said, there must be more research into miniaturization and ambient intelligence. Standards must be made compatible to allow people traveling between different member states to use their devices, it said. Accessibility is a key element of the European Union’s eEurope Action plan, the EC said.
A group of Wall St. analysts is predicting a dramatic change of strategy at the FCC if Comcast were to succeed in taking over Disney. Analyst Katherine Styponias and her team at Prudential Equity Group recently told investors that they have a “Machiavellian” theory about the value of Disney/ABC TV stations, namely that Comcast would like to wield the power of retransmission consent, rather than be hammered by it. “We also believe that as an owner of TV stations, Comcast would do a 180-degree turn and become a major advocate of digital must-carry, lobbying for a 6 MHz spectrum allocation as opposed to the requirement to send just a primary signal,” Styponias wrote.
The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS') Undersecretary testified before a House subcommittee that by January 5, 2004 U.S.-Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) was in operation at 115 airports and 14 seaports, covering 99% of all foreign visitors. While the Undersecretary stated that more than 600,000 foreign visitors have been processed under U.S.-VISIT without increasing wait times, the Journal of Commerce (JoC) reported that the implementation of the program at the 50 busiest land border crossings could slow down the flow of goods and people. US-VISIT is scheduled to be extended to these border crossings by December 31, 2004. (DHS Press Release 01/28/04, available via fax by emailing staff@brokerpower.com , JoC report www.joc.com)
FCC Chmn. Powell expressed optimism Mon. technology could address the challenges of providing Enhanced 911 services on broadband networks offering VoIP applications. “We do have that rare opportunity to join hands and develop the solutions early, before our citizens and our consumers are using these services in overwhelming numbers,” he told a National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) forum in Washington.
Wireless firms and historic preservation officials failed to reach a compromise by an FCC target date on outstanding issues connected to a tower siting pact, according to a filing Thurs. at the agency. The Commission planned to have the national program agreement (NPA) ready for its Feb. agenda meeting, but last month gave participants until Feb. 19 to work out issues in time for the March meeting. “It appears in some important ways ground has been lost since then,” said the filing by the wireless coalition.
The Entertainment Software Assn. (ESA) said Thurs. it was calling on the U.S. govt. to encourage foreign govts. to create and enforce anti-organized crime laws against pirating organizations. Citing the continuing influence of organized crime in entertainment software counterfeiting and piracy, ESA said it was joining with other groups that were part of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) to file a “Special 301” report today (Fri.) on the state of piracy in more than 50 countries and would ask the U.S. govt. “to help ensure that these countries improve protections for intellectual property rights in accord with international obligations.” ESA Pres. Douglas Lowenstein said the report and Special 301 process were “critical tools in the U.S. government’s efforts to make other governments aware of the value of putting a halt to the stealing of intellectual property and fostering legitimate economies.” The report identified China, Malaysia and Russia as the main large-scale producers of infringing entertainment software product. ESA said investigations into manufacturing and assembly facilities “also revealed connections between factories on mainland China and Taiwanese nationals who provide either the funding for these operations” or the component parts needed for assembly into finished pirated and counterfeited products. The report said other emerging piracy trends included Internet caf? piracy. The Special 301 report was to be filed with the U.S. Trade Representative, who, under the Special 301 trade law, can impose trade sanctions following an investigation and consultation period, ESA said.
The FCC proposed to require wireless, wireline, cable and satellite telecom providers to report information electronically to the Commission about “significant” disruptions to their communications systems. The proposal, adopted at the FCC meeting Thurs., for the first time would make wireless and satellite providers subject to the Commission’s reporting requirements. Currently, only wireline and cable telephony communications providers must report outages.
With demand for VoIP services increasing in Europe, govts. at both the pan-European and national level are beginning to focus on whether -- and how -- IP-based telephony should be regulated. The U.K. Office of Communications (OFCOM) has set a meeting later this month on regulatory and consumer protection issues involving Voice- over-Broadband (VoB). A recently announced March 15 European Commission (EC) workshop will review a 187-page report on VoIP and related convergent services. Both bodies say the key issue is ensuring VoIP doesn’t hamper consumer access to emergency services.
Cable and telecom executives said VoIP had the potential to displace the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) as it operated today. Speaking at a Precursor Group investors conference Tues., Vonage CFO John Rego said he believed VoIP would completely replace PSTN within 20 years. No one on the panel disagreed with his assessment. Verizon Pres.-Network Services Paul Lacouture said he believed traditional circuit switches would be traded out and replaced over the next 2 decades. Consumers already are beginning to make their phone calls over VoIP, but they “just don’t know it” because the technology is invisible to them, he said.
The Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) said Tues. it didn’t agree with a recommendation in the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) Strategic Wireless Action Team (SWAT) report on E911 handset replacement. The report recommended that the FCC relax a current mandate that required wireless carriers using a handset-based E911 Phase 2 solution to meet a 95% penetration rate by the end of 2005. APCO said it “strongly disagrees” with that recommendation. NENA also said last week it opposed any delay in the FCC deadline for wireless service providers using a handset-based solution (CD Feb 9 p8). Nextel last year called on the FCC to lift its Dec. 31, 2005, deadline for handsets to be Phase 2 capable as long as interim benchmark dates for handset deployment were met. APCO said the extent to which a public safety answering point could locate callers depended on the rate at which “old handsets are replaced by new models with location capabilities.” APCO said all carriers should be held to the current handset penetration requirements. “Why wouldn’t we hold the carriers accountable for making their handset penetration requirements?,” asked APCO 2nd Vp Wanda McCarley.