Last week the U.S. Information Technology Office (USITO), a TIA affiliate office based in China, held a board meeting, which TIA Director, International & Government Affairs Mike Nunes attended. The meeting took place in Shenzhen, China, located just to the northeast of Hong Kong.  Shenzhen was designated a Special Economic Zone in 1981, and has since become one of China’s fastest growing cities.

A government-supported high tech park, established in 1996, is contributing to the city’s rapid growth. The park covers 11.5 square km, and its output value now totals $17.6 billion and its export value stands at $8.8 billion. USITO board members were treated to a tour of the park, which included tours of U.S. and Chinese companies. During the tour of Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE, Nunes found it interesting to note that most of ZTE’s third-generation (3G) wireless products are exported, because China has yet to issued 3G licenses. TIA continues to push the Chinese government to issue such licenses, which will benefit U.S. and Chinese companies in addition to, of course, Chinese consumers who are always looking for next-generation devices and services.

The high tech park tour included a meeting with the park’s deputy director. She discussed the park’s heavy focus on research and development (R&D).  More than half of all products developed in the Shenzhen tech park are protected by intellectual property rights (IPR), a notable fact both in its rarity and in its creation of incentives for the Chinese government to improve IPR protection generally. The high tech park’s Virtual University, a collaboration among China’s top universities, has created a platform for R&D and turned the park into an incubator for innovation.

For more information on Shenzhen, USITO or TIA's efforts in China, please contact Mike Nunes at +1.703.907.7725 or mnunes@tiaonline.org.

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The FCC granted, by a 3-2 vote last week, AT&T's petition for forbearance from federal limits on the amount that the company can charge others for using its infrastructure to deliver last-mile connections to customers.  TIA is pleased to see that the Commission is adhering to its deregulatory approach where competition justifies such actions, as it does in this case.

The Order grants limited Title II forbearance from the application of dominant carrier tariff filing, cost support, discontinuance, and domestic transfer of control and certain Computer Inquiry requirements to broadband services with regard to non-TDM-based services, including frame relay services, ATM services, LAN services, Ethernet-based services, video transmission services, optical network services and wave-vased services. The grant is restricted to services AT&T currently offers and lists in its petitions and excludes all TDM-based, DS1 and DS3 services.  AT&T must continue to comply with public policies related to accessibility, 911, emergency preparedness and universal service, as well as the restrictions in the merger order.

Similar petitionsfrom Embarq, Frontier and Qwest are still pending at the commission; Chairman Martin said the FCC would rule on them, as well as a Verizon petition deemed granted in 2006, within the next 30 days.

For more information on TIA's FCC advocacy, please contact Rebecca Schwartz at rschwartz@tiaonline.org or +1.703.907.7477.

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TIA urged the FCC this week to reject a  proposal submitted by CellNet Technology that would fundamentally alter the Part 15 regime by imposing a duty cycle or other spectrum etiquette requirements on unlicensed transmitters that operate in the 915 MHz band. 

The commission’s minimally regulatory approach to Part 15 unlicensed service has been a proven success that has promoted innovation and efficient spectrum use.  TIA believes that spectrum etiquette requirements would significantly constrain design flexibility and increase the cost of unlicensed equipment. In light of the demonstrated success of the Part 15 unlicensed model, the FCC should affirm the existing rules and deny CellNet’s request for significant modifications. TIA has argued that CellNet’s proposal would require protection of a new class of “incumbent devices” at the expense of new, innovative products including cordless telephones and low-cost rural broadband solutions, just as U.S. policy makers are looking to accelerate broadband deployment nationwide.

“Many of TIA’s more than 500 member companies manufacture and supply the products and services deployed under the Part 15 unlicensed model,” said TIA President Grant Seiffert.  “The fair, market-based approach is to keep Part 15 free of discriminatory rules that shut out such a wide array of potential new services.”

For more information on TIA's wireless advocacy please contact Patrick Donovan at +1.703.907.7739 or pdonovan@tiaonline.org.

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TIA applauded the U.S. House of Representatives this week for their action passing H.R. 3678, the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 2007, sponsored by Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), Representatives Linda Sanchez (D-Cal.), Chris Cannon (R-Utah), and Rick Boucher (D-Va.), which extends the expiring Internet tax moratorium, by a vote of 405-2.  The bill would extend the soon-to-expire moratorium on Internet access taxes and multiple or discriminatory taxes on online transactions through November 2011. TIA supports the bill as a solid compromise and urges the Senate to take action before the current moratorium expires this November 1.

Quick adoption of this bipartisan legislation, including President Bush signing it into law, would keep the Internet free of access and transaction taxes, which will protect the growth of innovative technology. Such technology is the engine of the American economy and will help keep Internet access within reach of the American public. In a time when the government is busy formulating the best methods for deploying broadband, a strong disincentive to network investment like an Internet access tax could undo a decade of positive trends.

“We applaud the House of Representatives for showing overwhelming bipartisan support for legislation that helps the American consumer. We hope that this action will ensure that the current moratorium on onerous taxes does not expire in November of this year,” said TIA President Grant Seiffert.  “We strongly encourage the Senate to move in similar fashion to adopt this legislation soon.”

For more information on the Internet tax moratorium, please contact Carolyn Holmes Lee at clee@tiaonline.org or 703.907.7790.

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On October 31-November 1, the General Services Administration will host IDEAS 2007, its annual conference on Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center on Mount Vernon Place.  TIA Regulatory & Government Affairs Manager Becky Schwartz will moderate a panel on November 1, 1:45 p.m.-2:45 p.m., on technology for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. 

During this session, Schwartz will lead a discussion on which technology solutions are available for procurement purposes and the cost related to providing these solutions, as well as the security and privacy aspects of each.  Panelists will include Jim House, Public Relations and Resource Development Officer, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing; Karl Ewan, Agency Liaison for Federal Relay, Sprint; and Michael Young, CAPTEC Manager, Department of Defense Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program.

For more information on TIA's work with the hard-of-hearing community, please contact Ian Martinez at imartinez@tiaonline.org or +1.703.907.7723.

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Last week, the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee (CMSAAC) voted to make its official recommendations to the FCC on emergency alerts for wireless carriers, which should allow the FCC to issue its notice of proposed rulemaking on the matter in short order. The group recommended an opt-in text-message-based system that would be in place by late 2008.

CMSAAC was established as part of the Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act enacted by Congress in late 2006 and consists of technical experts from the commission, the public safety sector, the wireless industry and handset vendors. TIA is represented on the CMSAAC by Cheryl Blum of Alcatel-Lucent. The working group is charged with developing technical standards and protocols to help wireless carriers voluntarily transmit emergency alerts to their subscribers.

TIA supports CMSAAC and the general method in which the working group was mandated and executed because the committee allows various and diverse groups to have their voices heard as emergency preparedness and public safety rulemaking is enacted.  

For more information on CSMAAC, please contact Patrick Donovan at pdonovan@tiaonline.org or +1.703.907.7739.

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TIA President Grant Seiffert this week commended the FCC for its efforts to introduce new low-power devices in the vacant portions of broadcast television spectrum bands, known as “white spaces.”  In a letter to the FCC, Seiffert also urged the commission, as an “expert agency,” to make its white spaces ruling based on “robust testing and sound technical analysis.”

TIA believes that a thoroughly researched, well-informed white spaces decision by the FCC will help deliver greater broadband connectivity to consumers across the United States while avoiding harmful interference to broadcast television or other authorized services in those spectrum bands. To that end, TIA supports the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET), which has already conducted an extensive testing program, including field testing. The association approves of OET’s recent decision to move forward with a second round of testing to ensure that TV services are appropriately protected.

“The FCC is in a unique position to maximize spectrum efficiency, to open a new market, and above all to stimulate U.S. broadband deployment with its white spaces policy,” Seiffert said after signing the letter.  “We urge it to rely on its talented technical experts when making its decision.”

For more information on TIA's white spaces advocacy, please contact Patrick Donovan at pdonovan@tiaonline.org or +1.703.907.7739.

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The Critical Infrastructure Protection Advisory Council (CIPAC) held a meeting on October 9, 2007, focused on trade association involvement with the council.  CIPAC was established in early 2006 by the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate effective coordination between federal infrastructure protection programs, the private sector and state and local governments.  TIA and many of its member companies have participated in the Advisory Council since its inception and servce on various committees.

More than 50 trade associations participated in the October 9 meeting, representing 17 critical infrastructure/key resource owners and operators from the private sector.  CIPAC provides these member companies, particularly smaller ones, the opportunity to share the associations’ views with the government, as well as to act as a resource. 

For more information on CIPAC, please visit www.dhs.gov or contact Patrick Donovan at +1.703.907.7739 or pdonovan@tiaonline.org.

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The deadline for the FCC to act on an AT&T petition seeking forbearance from Communications Act Title II regulations for its broadband services is October 11. If granted, AT&T’s broadband Internet access services offered to enterprise users, such as packet-based and optical transmissions, would not be subject to regulations that govern sharing of their networks and pricing of their wholesale services.  This deregulation would be consistent with the FCC’s national broadband policy of advancing competition.

The FCC has yet to act, raising the question of whether it will proactively make a decision denying or granting the petition. Alternatively, the commission could choose not to act, and the petition will be deemed granted by operation of law. This was the result of a similar Verizon petition granted in 2006.

Qwest, Embarq and Frontier, as well as several incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), have filed equivalent petitions, which are pending. Qwest withdrew its petition in September, on the day of the FCC deadline to act, and re-filed the next day, reconfiguring the original timeline for its petition. It is possible the FCC may address all the petitions through an order at its next meeting or by circulation beforehand. 

For more information, please contact Rebecca Schwartz at +1.703.907.7477 or rschwartz@tiaonline.org

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