The members-only Broadband & Telecom Lunch hosted by TIA on September 19 will provide a special opportunity to celebrate the House career of Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), who announced his retirement on Friday, effective after the 2008 elections.  Attendees will also be able to discuss emerging tech issues with a prominent young Republican member of the House at the start of what promises to be an active legislative session.

Pickering has left the door open to a future run for higher office, though he hasn't commented specifically – this means Rep. Pickering's presentation may well foreshadow his policies as future senator, or possibly governor, and members will have the chance to become informed on his views on broadband & technology issues in the subsequent Q&A session.

Pickering told the Associated Press on Friday that he will remain involved in politics, and the AP speculated that he will make a bid for the Senate when either Republican Senator Thad Cochran or Trent Lott retires. Pickering has long been regarded as the most likely successor to either senator.

With questions or to participate in this members-only event, please contact Tom Shull at +1.703.907.7014 or tshull@tiaonline.org.

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TIA continues its efforts to actively lobby members of Congress and their staff urging the passage of the free trade agreements (FTAs) between the United States and Korea, Panama, Colombia and Peru. These lobbying efforts are being undertaken by TIA both independently and through two U.S. Chamber of Commerce trade coalitions. To support these efforts, TIA has developed position papers and handouts, which are available on the TIA website. On July 27, TIA coordinated with the High Tech Trade Coalition to host a congressional staff briefing. The panel included representatives from Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, TIA, AeA, Applied Materials and CSI. The event was well attended, with staffers of more than 20 members present. TIA is planning a similar event in September on the Senate side.

TIA played a significant role in the development of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, successfully lobbying for the inclusion of strong telecom language that reduces barriers to U.S. entry in the Korean market in the text of the final agreement.

The three Latin American agreements would improve U.S. access into telecom markets valued at more than $7.6 billion. Broadband and wireless subscribers in the region are growing at significant rates, and infrastructure investment is increasing, signaling opportunity for TIA members. TIA is also keenly aware that failure to pass any one of these agreements will set a negative precedent for the Korea FTA, which will likely be voted on sometime after Congress votes on Peru and Panama.

For any questions or comments about our work with the four pending FTAs, please contact James Maday at 703.907.7724 or jmaday@tiaonline.org.

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TIA continues to prepare for the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral ICT Commercial Dialogue this September 17-18 in Hanoi.  TIA staff will participate in panel discussions and otherwise help the U.S. Department of Commerce prepare for its Dialogue with Vietnam's Minister of Posts and Telematics Do Trung Ta. 

The inaugural meeting will involve a public seminar, government-to-government talks and an industry-to-government dialogue.

TIA has sought input from its members on an approach to the Vietnamese market and will utilize information available in its Global Insights report on Vietnam, compiled this summer by TIA researchers. 

For any questions or comments about the pending Vietnam Dialogue, please contact Michael Nunes at 703.907.7725.

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The World Radio Conference (WRC), put on every three to five years by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), is coming up soon.  This October 22-November 16 in Geneva, Switzerland, the WRC will meet for the first time since 2003 to discuss a wide array of issues related to the tech and telecom industries.

While there are a number of issues on the WRC agenda, TIA is following two policy issues in particular: Resolution 1.4 and Resolution 1.9.  Resolution 1.4 will consider frequency matters for the future development of IMT (including IMT-2000 and IMT-Beyond), which is the global standard for 3G and 4G wireless communications, as defined by the ITU; and Resolution 1.9 will review the operational efficiency of terrestrial and satellite co-sharing of the 2.5 Ghz to 2.69 Ghz band.

International issues raised at the WRC, and the ITU more generally, remain very important to TIA, and we will continue to make them a priority.

For questions or comments about the WRC or other upcoming ITU events and issues, please contact Michael Nunes at 703.907.7725.

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President Bush signed H.R. 2272, the America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science) Act, into law last Thursday, bringing to fruition months of work by TIA and countless other organizations. The act contains broadband-specific grant legislation crafted with TIA's input.

Now the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) will administer a grant program for the development of advanced communications. TIA members interested in being involved with this program should contact Tom Shull at 703.907.7014 or tshull@tiaonline.org.

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TIA members doing business in Japan won an important, if easy to overlook, victory last week, as the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) ruled against imposing the same Radio Utilization Fee on unlicensed spectrum that is normally applied to its licensed counterpart.  

Radio Utilization Fees were implemented to monitor developing technologies that utilize spectrum. They had never previously targeted devices operating in the unlicensed spectrum bands.  Devices in this category that would have been adversely affected include wireless LANs, cordless phones, electronic toll collection devices, intelligent travel system and RFID chips. These unlicensed devices are generally exempt from the fee, due to their low power emissions, self-managed interference mitigation and the complexity of measuring the large and diverse device and user base for the devices.

MIC proposed the change last month, and a total of 63 organizations and individuals, including TIA and several TIA members, submitted opinions opposing collecting fees from manufacturers of unlicensed spectrum devices. The parties argued the change would lead to significant long-term impact on the market growth of unlicensed spectrum devices in several sectors. The regulatory body concluded last week that it wouldn't impose the fee based on overwhelming opposition.

For questions on the RUF or other international wireless issues, please contact Patrick Donovan at 703.907.7739 or pdonovan@tiaonline.org.

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The first round of government-to-government talks on ICT trade between the United States and Brazil opened this week, taking place in Brasilia and Sao Paulo. Ambassador Gross and FCC Commissioner Tate will participate in the high-level talks for the United States, and many TIA member companies will also participate. 

TIA worked with the State Department to help shape the telecom agenda, providing a list of issues that will be discussed during next week’s government to government bilateral.  The association counseled the negotiators on the WTO, Brazil's regulatory agencies, the complexity of its tax system, intellectual property (IP) protection, local manufacturing and research and development (R&D) incentives, clearer emphasis by the Brazilian government on ICT management policy, consistency of government investments in ICT, and the burdensome nature of  "in-country" testing requirements.

If your company has an interest in participating in these talks, please contact Mike Nunes at 703.907.7725 or mnunes@tiaonline.org.

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