Last Thursday a coalition of high-tech industry representatives held an bicameral Congressional staff on the value to U.S. industry of the four Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) currently before Congress. The briefing, which followed one earlier this fall on the House side, was attended heavily by Senate staff, a smattering of House staff and industry experts and staff.  While all four FTAs were discussed, including in a question-and-answer session after the main discussion panel, Peru, likely up first for vote, was the main focus. 

Speakers from AeA, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Nortel each explained the various benefits of the agreements, following Acting Undersecretary of Commerce, Iternational Trade Agency, Christopher Padilla's comments about major advantages to U.S. consumers, workers and business inherent to the pacts.  Padilla said Peru's trade with the United States is already "free trade," inasmuch as the Andean nation can already export goods here virtually duty-free, while U.S. manufacturers face tariffs and other barriers to Peru's market. The Peru FTA would remedy that, as agreements with Panama and Colombia would with their respective countries.

Other speakers stressed the value of engaging foreign markets in a highly competitive global economy in which Europe and Asia already have, or will soon have, their own version of FTAs in place. China in particular has been very aggressive in those markets, and opportunities for investment in the Latin American markets are poised to skyrocket.

For more information on TIA's advocacy for FTAs worldwide, please contact Mike Nunes at +1.703.907.7725 or mnunes@tiaonline.org.

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The Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC) is expected to post the draft of the full committee’s report on its Web site by October 26, 2007. Technology procured by the federal government and telecommunications equipment must be accessible to persons with disabilities according to federal law, and TEITAC, a temporary federal advisory committee, has spent the past  year reviewing and updating accessibility standards under these laws.

Each of the eight subcommittees provides recommendations to the full committee on the standards relevant to its jurisdiction.  TIA is represented on the Telecommunications Subcommittee by Mary Brooner, Motorola.  The Telecommunications Subcommittee’s recommendations address topics such as real-time text (RTT) reliability and interoperability, volume control, hearing aid compatibility, interactive voice response (IVR) and video support.

After the posting of the report on October 26, the Editorial Working Group will finalize the wording and post the final report online on November 27, 2007. 

For more information please visit www.teitac.org or contact Becky Schwartz at +1703.907.7477 or rschwartz@tiaonline.org.

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The World Radio Conference (WRC), held every three to five years by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), begins this week in Geneva and will continue until November 16. 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 International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) (including IMT-2000 and IMT-Beyond), 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 +1.703.907.7725 or mnunes@tiaonline.org.

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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-based 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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From October 31 to 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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