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Cisco Government
Affairs E-Update
Volume
1, Issue 8
6 April 2001
Brought to
you by Cisco Government Affairs Online: www.cisco.com/gov
CISCO.COM/GOV
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This Week@Cisco
in Government Affairs
CISCO@WASHINGTON, DC
The White House announced today it has
nominated 3 people for seats as FCC Commissioners:
(1) Kevin Martin, FCC transition leader for President George
Bush and former aide to FCC Comr. Harold Furchtgott-Roth. (2) Kathleen Abernathy, VP Broadband Office, who is a former U S
West regulatory VP and one-time advisor to ex-FCC Comr. James Quello. (3) Mike Copps, long-time aide to Sen. Ernest
Hollings (D-S.C.) who left last year to work in the Commerce Dept. in
the international trade area.
National Journal’s TechDaily reported
that House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member John Dingell
(D-MI) touted the broadband legislation he and House Energy and Commerce
Committee Chairman W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, R-La., plan to introduce after
the Easter recess as one mechanism that could aid FCC Chairman Michael
Powell in reforming the highly criticized agency.
Among other things, Dingell said, the bill could be viewed as
a "mechanism to get the new economy up" because it would allow
the FCC to enforce compliance with regulatory policies but would prohibit
the agency from placing various restrictions on different sources of
Internet services — like cable or phone — that deploy the same types
of services.
·
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman
W. J. “Billy” Tauzin calls for speedy telecom reform to help restore
vitality to the U.S. economy - http://www.pff.org/pr/pr040301_Tauzin.htm
The Congressional Democrats this week
announced their Technology Agenda and at the top of the list was to
make broadband Internet available to every American by the end of the
decade. “No region or group of Americans can afford
to be on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Making broadband access available to every American must be a
high priority and an essential part of our effort to close the digital
divide. To spur deployment, this agenda includes tax
incentives and expanded federal financing assistance through the Rural
Utilities Service. It includes
full funding of the rural loan guarantee program to provide highspeed
Internet service and local video to rural areas, and facilitates telecommuting
to help people employ these technologies to work from home.” (For the full listing of the tech agenda, please e-mail John Earnhardt
(jearnhar@cisco.com) and request a copy.)
NTIA on 3G:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2001/3g033001.htm
DOD's statement on 3G - http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2001/b03302001_bt136-01.html
FCC's 3G report - http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Public_Notices/2001/da010786.html
FTC Warns Fraud Could Impede Internet
Growth - http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/04/senfinance.htm
The Last Mile to the Internet - A report
from McKinsey & Company - http://www.mckinsey.com/features/access/index.html
MIT puts courses online – FREE - http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,42841,00.html
US mobile phone users will spend more
time on the wireless Internet than making wireless phone calls by 2010.
- http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356615&rel=true
http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/ecommerce_b2c/20010328_onl_travel.html?ref=wn
Technology Leaders Repeat Call for Federal
CIO - http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0401/040401td.htm
CISCO@INTERNATIONAL
This week, Cisco’s Worldwide Director
of Government Affairs, Laura Ipsen, hosted Djamhari Sirat, Director of Posts and Telecommunications for Indonesia.
Ipsen presented Cisco’s broadband vision and exchanged ideas for rolling
out broadband.
Joint Meeting of Telecommunications and
Transport Ministers in Luxembourg - Chaired by Björn Rosengren, Sweden's
Minister for Industry, Employment and Communications, the meeting discussed
telecom issues; such as the future regulatory framework for electronic
communications, the continued development of the 3G network in the light
of the current decline in the telecommunications branch and the introduction
of the 'dotEU' top-level domain http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/Welcome.html
News - http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3TGLKQ6LC&live=true&useoverridetemplate=ZZZFKOXOA0C&tagid=ZZZPCGI2B0C&subheading=telecoms
DE ELECTRONIC TAX DECLARATIONS
IN GERMANY: In Germany annual
tax declarations can now be transmitted to the local tax offices electronically
using a program called "Elster". The program can be downloaded
for free from the Internet (www.elster.de) and allows the information
to be transferred in encoded form to the local tax offices. However,
the notice of pay received, the tax deducted and a signed copy of the
annual tax declaration will still to be sent by post.
IT WHOLESALE OFFER OF X-DSL SERVICES
IN ITALY: The Italian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
will announce its evaluations on the potential for introducing, in the
Italian market, a wholesale offer of flat-rate X-DSL services by May
20, 2001. http://www.agcom.it/
'NET USAGE FAVORS FLAT RATES - European
internet usage surged between June 2000 and February 2001 after companies
started offering flat rates that covered both internet access and usage
of phone lines. A Jupiter MMXI report found that the monthly time 'net
users spent online at home in Germany increased by 226% to 13 hours,
the most in Europe. Runners up included Spain and Norway (averaging
9 hours monthly), Italy and Denmark (about 8 hours) and Britain and
France (7 hours).
Singapore has four 3G licence bidders
- Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) said on Friday it
has confirmed four bidders for its four third-generation (3G) mobile
phone licences and will decide by April 11 on the need for an auction.
http://special.scmp.com/NLet/NLet.asp?Sec=technology&SSec=comm&Id=ZZZ3L6PZRKC
WORLD LAGS BEHIND SEOUL BROADBAND LEADER
- The latest NetValue study found that 57% of Korean households with
internet access have broadband connections. The US comes in a distant
second with 11%, followed by Hong Kong (8%), Singapore (7%), Taiwan,
France and Denmark (6%) and Germany (5%). Bringing up the rear are
Spain and the UK (3%) and China (0.4%). Germany leads the world in ISDN,
with 38% of online households using it, followed by Denmark (20%), Hong
Kong (5%) and China (4%). In Taiwan, the US and Singapore, less than
1% of e-households use ISDN.
Free
Trade Agreement of the Americas – GAO Report on the eve of The Summit
of the Americas - http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01552.pdf
(Adobe Acrobat required)
The Estonian government has announced
plans to introduce online voting for the 2003 general elections. - http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356614&rel=true
European home Internet users are spending
more and more time online, according to Jupiter MMXI. - http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356602&rel=true
Denmark has the highest proportion of
households connected to the Internet at 54 percent, closely followed
by the USA (50.9 percent). -
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356594&rel=true
eJAPAN: WORKING UP TO ITS BROADBAND POTENTIAL
- Japan wants 30 million broadband households by 2005, but NTT's near-monopoly
leaves the country vulnerable. http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/easia/20010330_asia.html?ref=wn
CISCO@US STATES
California Assemblyman Joe Simitian (D-21) of Palo
Alto visited Cisco this week to speak with executives about a range
of issues affecting California. Cisco
State Government Affairs Manager Michelle Mallory Peacock and Senior
Vice President of Human Resources Barbara Beck hosted the roundtable
discussion. The group spoke at length about the state of
education and how technology could be used to strengthen education delivery
and assessment. Cisco Vice President
of Strategic Technology Policy, Christine Hemrick, led a discussion
about broadband deployment and focused on broadband’s affect on productivity
and the economy. Other issues
discussed included e-government, energy and transportation. Simitian sits on the Budget, Appropriations, Transportation, and
Utilities and Commerce Committees.
He also chairs the Select Committee on Privacy.
Cisco ranks among the top 100 Corporate
Citizens for 2001 - http://www.business-ethics.com/100best.htm
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
Jane Swift to Telecommute - http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/096/metro/Technology_to_help_Swift_juggle_tasks+.shtml
Texas Senate approves bill aimed at increasing
tech graduates - http://www.dallasnews.com/education/327908_BC-TX--PERRY-H.html
E-Government Success Hinges on Citizens
- http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/16356-1.html
Internet Voting in the Future? - http://www.nua.ie/surveys/analysis/weekly_editorial.html
Up to a third of US citizens will file
taxes over the Internet this year, according to Gartner. - http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356593&rel=true
Governing Magazine is now accepting
nominations for Public Officials of the Year. Top-level elected, appointed
and career officials from any branch of state or local government are
eligible for this prestigious award.
Nominate your favorite official today.
Deadline is June 15. http://governing.com/poy/poy.htm
Tax
Time!!! Visit our U.S.States
(http://www.cisco.com/gov/us_states/index.html) page to find your state
and federal income tax forms. Download
the forms or file electronically. eGovernment (http://www.cisco.com/gov/people/e_government.html)
in action!
SITE
OF THE WEEK –
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS HIGH TECH COMMUNITY
Question of the Week: Can Broadband Help the Economy?
- This week leaders talked about the internet and its effect on the
economy. Leaders in the US House
of Representatives stated that building out broadband technology could
have an extremely positive impact on the economy.
Leaders in Europe this week discussed similar topics in Luxembourg
as well. Can broadband help
the worldwide economy? And,
if so, how long will it take for the economy to see the positive effects
of broadband? (Add your comments on Cisco’s High Tech Community)
http://forums.cisco.com/cgi-bin/Community/HtCom?page=main
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.
FACT AND STAT OF THE WEEK: “Teachers,
IT Workers and Fortune 1000”
TEACHERS ONLINE - According to a survey
of 600 US teachers by NetBay, 97% of teachers say their schools have
Internet access and 87% are comfortable using the internet. However,
60% spend one-half an hour online or less each day at school and 6%
say they spend an hour or more online at school.
US LOSING ITS LURE FOR IT PROFESSIONALS
- The New York Times Online reports that the
US is slowly losing its lure as a haven for information technology (IT)
professionals. To retain home-grown IT workers, Australia announced
a $2 billion package of research grants, tax incentives and education
funding for tech talent. In fact, Taiwan has been able to retain 50,000 scientists over the last 2 decades by implementing
similar programs.
ENABLING THE FORTUNE 1,000 - According to Network Solutions, only 20% of
the Fortune 1,000 companies in the US are e-commerce enabled (as of
2001).
For
more Facts and Stats on the New Economy, visit our Facts and Stats page.
Also, see our special State of the Internet report on this page.
For
daily, topical Facts and Stats visit our Hot In Tech page.
TECH NEWS STORIES OF THE WEEK
A higher proportion of UK businesses
have websites than companies in the US, according to a new survey. -
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356591&rel=true
The latest sales figures released by
the German retailing company Otto Group reveal that it is the second-largest
online retailer in the world after Amazon. - http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356611&rel=true
There are now 3.54 million Internet users
in the Arab world, up 1.5 million in the past year, according to a new
study carried out by Ajeeb.com and sponsored by Tejari.com and Visa
International. - http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356603&rel=true
Nine out of ten Canadian teens went online
during 2000, as did over half of all Canadians. According to Statistics Canada, this was a threefold increase over
1994, when 18 percent of Canadians had Internet access. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905356596&rel=true
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
DISCLAIMER
Positions
in articles and papers from outside sources are in no way endorsed by
Cisco Systems' Office of Government Affairs. We offer articles
on topics of interest to our audience to further the debate on the issues
that are important to high-tech. To
view our positions on the policy matters that we care about, please
visit our Government Affairs homepage. – http://www.cisco.com/gov
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