Cisco Government Affairs E-Update

Volume 1, Issue 12
4 May 2001
Brought to you by Cisco Government Affairs Online: www.cisco.com/gov

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This Week@Cisco in Government Affairs

CISCO@INTERNATIONAL

BROADBAND IN AUSTRALIA -- Don't give up on the high-speed internet market in

Australia.  Though it's gotten a slow start, Broadband analyst Ben Macklin says the industry should be sizeable by 2005.

http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/broadband/20010501_bband.html?ref=asw

TECH INVESTMENT -- South Korea's government has decided to invest several

hundred billion yen in the information technology industry.

http://www.atimes.com/koreas/CD25Dg04.html

SINGAPORE GOV'T SPONSORS BROADBAND BOOM  --  Representing the third and

final phase of local broadband promotion, the government of Singapore has invested $30 million into the high-speed market. The move is intended to push mass-consumption.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/cybernews/story/0,1870,39770,00.html

ALL HUNGARIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS HAVE INTERNET ACCESS -- 80% have their own homepages.  http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=2863

EU COMMISSION DISCUSSES INTERNET UPGRADE --  A European Union (EU) task

force met to discuss upgrading Europe's internet from the current Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to the more powerful IPv6.

http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/enews/reuters/04_24_2001.rwntz-story-bcnettelecomseuinternetdc.html?ref=euw

DUTCH TREATY --  The Hague Convention on Jurisdiction is attempting to

figure out rules for cross-border e-commerce transactions.

http://www.business2.com/ebusiness/2001/04/globalsimmer.htm

CISCO@WASHINGTON, DC

CHAMBERS PARTICIPATES IN ECONOMIC FORUM AT HAAS SCHOOL -- The University of California at Berkeley Haas School of Business held a roundtable conference this week entitled  "Back to the Future: New Economy Meets Old Realities".

It was moderated by Laura D'Andrea Tyson and the keynote address was

delivered by FCC Chairman Michael Powell.  Powell spoke on the  "Regulatory

Enviornment for Telecommunications and the Internet".  Cisco President and

CEO John Chambers attended the event along with other industry executives.

FCC NOMINATIONS TO THE SENATE  -- This week, President Bush nominated

Kathleen Q. Abernathy, Kevin J. Martin and Michael Joseph Copps to serve on

the Federal Communications Commission.  The nominations have been sent to

the Senate for consideration and confirmation.

BRUCE P. MEHLMAN NOMINATED TO DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE -- On Monday, President Bush nominated Bruce P. Mehlman to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy.  Mehlman's nomination has been sent to the Senate for consideration and confirmation.  Mehlman leaves Cisco Systems after nearly

two years in his role as technology policy counsel in the Washington, DC,

federal government affairs office.

POL TAX --  Two US senators are proposing separate bills regarding issues of

sales tax on e-commerce. If a compromise is reached, the final bill could be

on the fast track to the Senate floor.

http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2713733,00.html

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE REQUESTS SEQUENTIAL REFERRAL OF HR 1542 – House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) on May 1, 2001 requested sequential referral to his committee of  H.R. 1542, "Internet

Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001"  -- broadband legislation

sponsored by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and

Ranking Member Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.).  H. R. 1542 was reported from

the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on April 26, 2001 by a vote of

19-14. Full Energy and Commerce Committee consideration has not been

scheduled. You may find Chairman Sensenbrenner's letter to  House Speaker

Dennis  Hastert (R-Ill.), which asks for  "for a sufficient time to plan and

hold a hearing and a markup" at the following link:

http://www.house.gov/judiciary/broadband_0501.htm

LIEBERMAN, BURNS INTRODUCE E-GOVERNMENT BILL -- An electronic government bill introduced this week by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Conrad

Burns, R-Mont., would establish a $200 million annual fund for fiscal years

2002 through 2004 to be used to support interagency information technology

projects. http://www.washtech.com/news/govtit/.

INDUSTRY WARMS TO IDEA OF FEDERAL CIO -- IT industry and government

representatives meeting May 3 on Capitol Hill agreed the U.S. government needs a federal chief information officer to lead electronic government efforts, but some seemed to soften on the idea that a new government office is necessary to house an e-gov czar.

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/16480-1.html

CISCO@US STATES

CISCO CHAIRMAN PARTICIPATES IN EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY FORUM WITH REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS -- On Thursday, Chairman of the Board for Cisco

Systems, Inc., John Morgridge, joined a group of industry representatives

and Republican Governors such as Governor Jim Geringer (WY), Governor John

Engler (MI), Governor Dick Kempthorne (ID) and Governor Tom Ridge (PA) to

discuss the use of technology in education.  Morgridge emphasized that the

use of assessment tools should be "not to measure but to help master"

subject matter.  He also discussed the importance of broadband deployment in

increasing the use of e-learning.

TEXAS EDUCATION BILL GOES TO GOVERNOR FOR SIGNATURE -- SB 353/HB 897, known as the Technology Workforce Development Act, sponsored by Senator Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano, passed the Texas House of

Representatives unopposed on Wednesday and now goes to the Governor for

signature.  The bill is aimed at significantly increasing the number of college graduates with degrees in engineering and computer science over the next five to 10 years.

MAYORS TO TACKLE WORKER SHORTAGE -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors will hold a regional skills summit -- the second in a series of three taking place --

May 4 in Long Beach, Calif. The first meeting was held in New Orleans in March, and the third will be in Boston.  At the Long Beach meeting, regional business and civic leaders will gather to develop specific policy objectives and goals for addressing the skills gap in the workforce. The event will feature education and technology as two

driving forces in creating new job markets.  Recommendations from the summit will form the foundations for a national report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. The center will present its findings at the 69th Annual Conference of Mayors in Detroit on June 22-26.

E-GOVERNMENT SITE OF THE WEEK:  COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA -- The Commonwealth of Virginia has established an excellent resource for citizens of the state

of Virginia.  Many government services can be accessed online, such as:  car

registration, tax services, license searching, and more.

http://www.state.va.us/

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS HIGH TECH COMMUNITY

Issue of the week: Broadband Deployment - Add your thoughts at Cisco’s High Tech Community
- http://forums.cisco.com/cgi-bin/Community/HtCom?page=main.

FACTS AND STATS OF THE WEEK:

INTO THE FUTURE -- An e-business survey from IDC asserts that over the

four-year period beginning in 2001, more than $5 trillion will be spent worldwide to develop more efficient ways to conduct business online. IDC predicts that the number of e-business websites will double during the period and that by 2005 US consumers will spend $700 billion on goods and services purchased online. By that year, the survey also forecasts, 30% of internet users will be native English speakers.

ASIA TO BE THE LARGEST INTERACTIVE TV MARKET --  According to a 2001 report

published in the South China Morning Post -- citing OpenTV Corp, the largest maker of software for digital televisions -- Asia will be the largest interactive television market in the world within four years. Jeffrey Brown, the Managing Director of OpenTV Asia-Pacific, said interactive TV market growth is more limited in Europe, where two-thirds of the 40 million set-top boxes were sold, as well as in North America, Latin America and Australia.  Mr. Brown believes Asia has the biggest growth potential because of its

large population and increasing subscription numbers for pay television.  Interactive television enables users to shop, bank and receive interactive advertising through an attachment to a conventional television.

HOME ACCESS KEEPS GROWING --  According to Neilsen//NetRatings, 379 million

people worldwide had internet access at home as of March 2001. The total is an increase of 7 million from the previous month. 211 million are active users, a 4% jump for the month. South Korean home internet users logged an average of 2,164 page views in March -- by far the largest number of any of the 21 markets Neilsen//NetRatings studied - but viewed each page for an average of only 28 seconds.

SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS --  The online retail sector leads all other industries in responding to customers e-mail inquiries, according to Jupiter Media Metrix. 53% of retail companies respond to e-mails within six hours, compared to an average of 38% for companies in all industries (including retail). One-third of all firms take three days or more or do not respond at all. The financial services industry was second in meeting the

customer-preferred six-hour response time (46%), while travel companies (12%) and corporate brand sites (0%) were at the bottom of the list.

LATIN AMERICAN JOURNALISTS LOG ON -- A 2001 Cisco Systems survey finds that

web usage among Latin American journalists is close to that for their US counterparts. 91% regularly surf the net for work, despite the regions overall 3% to 5% internet penetration rate. Four out of five Latin American journalists who rely on the net say

they have increased their usage substantially over the past year.

AUSSIE WEB USAGE -- When it comes to internet usage, Australia had its ups

and downs during the fourth quarter of 2000. The country had 3.92 million registered subscribers by the end of Q4, up from 3.85 million the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the number of household internet accounts dipped slightly, from 3.417 million to 3.410 million. Though there was also a drop in the number of internet service providers (ISPs) from 718 to 696 during the period, most surfers probably did not notice -- the six largest ISPs account for 53% of all Australian subscribers.

ITV BANKING SET TO GROW -- With the growth in popularity of interactive

television in Europe, more and more financial institutions are offering TV-based banking services. A 2001 Celent Communications report projects that there will be 10 million interactive television (iTV) banking users on the Continent by 2004. However, Celent does not expect iTV to become as widely accepted as internet banking services, which should have 30 million European users by that year.

MAMA STATS -- A 2001 NetValue study finds that the United States and the

United Kingdom have the highest concentration of mothers among their online female populations. The UK, in which 61.5% of women who go online have children, leads the way, with the US second-highest at 52.5%.  No other country in the study had a concentration higher than 50%. France is closest with 48.3%, followed by Spain (34%) and Germany (30.1%).

NETHERLANDS: FIRST FAST INTERNET CONNECTION IN DORMS -- The "Fibre to the Dormitory" project on the university campus of Delft saw its first fibre connection completed last week. The project will provide students with a Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) connection from their dormitories to the university via the academic network SURFnet. Within the dormitory, the network allows speeds up to 100 Megabps. More than 2,600 residents of student housing in Delft will eventually be connected. Partners in the

project are Gigaport, a technology platform gathering parties from government, business and the academic world; Cistron, a broadband infrastructure and internet provider; the TU Delft university; and student housing corporation Duwo.

TALK IS NOT CHEAP -- Mobile phones will generate $1 trillion worldwide by

2010, according to the UMTS Forum. The figure is based on the organization's

projection that third-generation (3G) technology will be embraced by 2005.

28% of mobile users are expected to have 3G phones by 2010, when data

services will cost callers an average of $30 per month and voice services

will cost $12 per month.

WEB SURFING ON THE JOB -- A 2001 survey by research firm Taylor Nelson

Sofres finds that 41% of office employees in Europe surf the internet more than 3 hours a week for personal matters. Survey respondents access the web for a host of uses, including booking travel (52%), shopping (28%) and keeping up with sports news (27%). 73% of staffers believe that it is acceptable to surf the net during break periods, and one-half felt it was appropriate to do so before or after work hours.

SHOP TALK -- A Boston Consulting Group study conducted for Shop.org finds

that the North American online retail market grew 66% to $44.5 billion in 2000. For the year, purchases made over the internet accounted for 1.7% of total retail sales. Online sales were up sharply from the 1999 total of $26.7 billion, and are projected to rise another 45% to $65 billion in 2001.

BUSY TIMES -- New York Times Digital's two largest websites broke traffic

records during March 2001, according to The New York Times Company.

NYTimes.com received just over 200 million page views and 25.9 million visits, increases of 92.1% and 73.5% respectively from March 2000. Its sister site, Boston.com, saw its page views jump 54.9% to 71.9 million and its visits rise 18.3% to 8.2 million.

TUNING OUT -- Webnoize reports that Napster users traded 1.59 billion songs

in April 2001, down from 2.49 billion in March and 2.79 billion in February.  The average number of files shared per user dropped more than 80% since the company instituted its filtering system at the beginning of March.

BORN IN THE DMA -- According to the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA)

"2000 Economic Impact: US Direct & Interactive Marketing Today" report, direct marketing sales growth is predicted to grow by 9.6% annually between 2000 and 2005, compared with ad spending's 7.1% annual growth during that time frame. Total ad spending for direct marketing hit $191.6 billion in 2000, an 8.5% increase over 1999. Direct marketing ad expenditures now account for 56.5% of total US ad expenditures.  Business-to-business direct marketing sales were $792.8 billion in 2000 (a 12.1% increase over 1999), while business-to-consumer direct marketing sales reached $937.7 billion in 2000 (a 9.2% increase over 1999).

TAXING ISSUES -- The end of the internet's tax-free status will not affect people's buying habits, according to a survey of US consumers who have abandoned an online purchase in the past. Jupiter Media Metrix finds that 74% do not chose a retailer based on their ability to avoid sales tax on items under $50. Among the top 10 retailers in terms of unique website visitors during March 2001, six -- including Barnesandnoble.com, Apple.com and HP.com -- are multi-channel vendors that already charge sales tax in some areas.

TECH NEWS STORIES OF THE WEEK

FEE-BASED WEB CONTENT IS CROPPING UP EVERYWHERE -- As more and more Web sites fold, the hope is that users will realize that if they don't open up their wallets, their favorite sites might disappear.

http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/daily/05/050201/free_to_fee.html

SEVEN MILLION NEW NET SURFERS RECORDED IN MARCH -- Nearly seven million more people worldwide had access to the Internet from their homes in March compared with the previous month.

http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/daily/05/050201/net_usage.html

ALTERNATIVE BROADBAND TECHNOLOGIES IN LATIN AMERICA -- Where there's a WLL, there's a way for internet users in Latin America to make high-speed internet connections.

http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/elatin_america/20010503_latam.html?ref=law

MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT -- As wireless technology improves, mobile entertainment will become a huge business. But just when can consumers expect to be able to download music files, gamble and watch video on a mobile device?

http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/wireless/20010504_wireless.html?ref=wiw

CISCO GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS@2001

Cisco’s top policy focuses for 2001 are the areas of Education, Broadband Deployment and eGovernment.  To read or listen to our thoughts on these issues, please visit our Government Affairs home page or our visit our multimedia section . http://www.cisco.com/gov/multimedia/index.html

E-UPDATE ARCHIVE

To view past issues of Cisco’s Government Affairs E-Update, visit our E-Update Archive page . http://www.cisco.com/gov/archive/eupdates/index.html

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