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Cisco Government
Affairs E-Update
Volume
1, Issue 9
13 April 2001
Brought to
you by Cisco Government Affairs Online: www.cisco.com/gov
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This Week@Cisco
in Government Affairs
CISCO@WASHINGTON, DC
Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) this week visited
Cisco’s corporate headquarters in San Jose, CA. He met with Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Dan Scheinman
and Vice President, Law, Mark Chandler. They talked about the current economic
slow down and broadband deployment and its positive impact on productivity. Senator Bayh was also thanked for his help
of FASB.
The Federal Communications Commission
is set to sharply reduce payments phone companies must make to each
other for completing calls to Internet-service providers. (http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB987131058167867378.htm)
(paid registration required)
US “FirstGov” E-gov Website Looks for
More Funding (http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0409/web-first-04-13-01.asp)
Traffic up at Government web sites
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40961-2001Apr4.html
FCC Budget is announced - http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OMD/News_Releases/2001/nrmd0101.html
Opponents chime in on broadband Bells
– (http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-5548018.html)
Linda Roberts headed up the Office of
Educational Technology for the Department of Education from 1993 to
2000. With a change in the White House, there's a change in the school
house. Roberts discusses the state of technology in education under
the Bush administration. (http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42980,00.html)
CISCO@INTERNATIONAL
This week, the Minister of Trade from
Australia, Mark Vaile, met with Cisco Chairman of the Board John Morgridge
to discuss the economy of Southeast Asia and use of technology in remote
areas. Vice President for Strategic Technology Chris
Hemrick also led a discussion on deployment of broadband technology.
High prices and a lack of education about
the value of broadband connections are among the reasons Jupiter MMXI
predicts slow adoption of high-speed Internet access in Europe. http://cyberatlas.com/big_picture/geographics/article/0,,5911_738531,00.html
Isabella de Michelis, Cisco’s EMEA Government
Affairs Manager, attended the GO Digital kick off day held by the European
Commission on April 6th 2001 in Brussels on behalf of Cisco. Goal of
the day was to present the new program sponsored by the European Commission
called Go Digital and addressing SMEs as beneficiaries for IT/technolofy
funding by the Commission in the next 5 years. EC Commissioner for Information
Society and Enterprise Erkki Liikanen who made the opening address at
the conference made reference to the current macro economic situation
and the problems affecting IT and .com industry highlighting however
that he is positive in the expected developments and that Internet,
although it is experiencing troubles, will not go away. He said that
everybody should try to readapt its habits to the new challenges that
Internet presents and that is a prioroty for the Commission to make
sure it happens. He in addition made
reference to his last visit to the Silicon Valley and more specificaly
to his visit to Cisco Systems Inc, raising some of the points discussed
during his meeting with there. More about the GO Digital program can
be found at : (http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ecommerce/godigital)
(EC) Commission seeks to use Internet
for Interactive Policy Making - The European Commission has outlined
a new Interactive Policy Making initiative to improve governance by
using the Internet for collecting and analysing reactions in the marketplace
for use in the European Union's policy-making process. This initiative
will be used to evaluate existing EU policies and for open consultations
on new initiatives. Interactive Policy Making forms part of the "e-Commission"
initiative and is linked to the Commission's governance and the regulatory
policy initiatives. (http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/01/519|0|RAPID&lg=EN)
European e-learning Summit Announced
– May 10-11, 2001 - This summit will seek to develop a dialogue between
the public and private sectors in order to accelerate the eLearning
process and to define clear guidelines and proposals for the implementation
of eLearning. (http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/elearning/index.html)
PCs AND THE INTERNET IN THE ARAB WORLD
- According to Intel, the demand for personal computers (PCs) in the
Arab world will hit 1.8 million in 2001 -- a 30% increase over 2000. Ajeeb.com reports that as of March 2001, there
were 3.5 million internet users in the Arab region with the United Arab
Emirates leading the way with 660,000 internet users and 220,000 subscribers.
8 Million Arab Net Users by 2002 -
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010409/wr/mideast_intel_dc_3.html
ESTONIAN eDEMOCRACY - Estonia is not
the richest among Europe's nations, but it boasts an impressive internet
penetration. According to analyst Nevin Cohen, Estonia is just getting
started, thanks to some bold plans from the public and private sectors.
http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/eeurope/20010404_europe.html?ref=wn
E-DEMOCRACY - Estonia 2003 general election
over the Internet . While US and western democracies discuss about the
usefulness of the Internet in democracy, the Republic of Estonia could
be the first State to currently run general election on line. There
is a pending legislative proposal made by the Minister for Justice that
if approved would pave the way to the Internet voting election of 2003
already. (http://www.neteconomy24.ilsole24ore.com/art.jhtml?artid=31906)
(Italian)
LATIN AMERICA: OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE
REMAINS POSITIVE - Noah Elkin finds that in the face of the ongoing
restructuring and apparent shrinking of Latin America's internet industry,
many research firms forecast continued growth in the number of users
and overall e-commerce revenues in the region.
http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/elatin_america/20010405_latam.html?ref=wn
France’s telecommunications regulator
makes public its position about flat-rate interconnection for Internet
traffic. (http://www.art-telecom.fr/) (French)
China B2C to generate $190M this year
– (http://technology.scmp.com/ZZZL1SMY4LC.html)
(free registration required)
Iran is to host the International Conference
on Electronic and Internet Cities in Kisk from 1 to 3 May 2001. A number
of experts and international companies will take part in the event.
There will also be a five-day exhibition open to the public, displaying
the most up-to-date developments in Internet and electronic technology.
There will be sessions on a number of subjects, including electronic
banking services, Internet universities and electronic information dissemination
systems. The event is an important step for Iran, illustrating its desire
to keep up with the latest technological developments.
Population census over the Internet in
Spain : Spain could be the first country in the world to run a complete
census survey over the Internet. Over the year 2000 Singapore, U.S.A.
and Switzerland ran similar programs but not of the amplitude of the
one foreseen in Spain.
SLOVENIA: TELECOMS ACT ADOPTED - Parliament yesterday
adopted the country's new telecommunications bill. The new legislation
is designed to bring Slovenia in line with European Union legislatory
norms and expectations. The
Slovenian market is described as being 'semi-liberalized', with restricted
competition allowed to enter the market on 1 January. The act will replace
the 1997 telecoms act.
Investments in the telecoms network made
by individuals and local community in the past will be returned by means
of a special law, which will be adopted six months after the implementation
of the telecoms act. That refund will be paid in part by the privatization
of public operator Telekom Slovenija - although government spokespersons
have made it clear in the past that they are not necessarily in a hurry
to sell Telekom assets, given the current market climate for telecoms
assets. The compensation measure is designed to appease investors in
the network who had threatened petition a referendum on the issue.
The act is designed to bring clearly
regulated competition into the local loop. Competition in the local
loop will be executed primarily for the benefit of the end users.
The act will seek to better and more
efficiently regulate the use of radio frequencies.
Telekom Slovenija will lose its status
as a public company, with a year's grace to adjust itself to its new
status. The Agency for Telecommunications is to be
established as an independent regulator, ensuring universal service
provision, and to regulate license holders. The Agency is to be based
around the current regulator, the Administration for Telecommunications.
WORLDWIDE B2B FUTURE REVENUE - According
to IDC, worldwide business-to-business e-commerce will generate $2.6
trillion in revenue by 2004 -- a rise from $280
billion in 2000. IDC predicts that by that time, $1.2 trillion
of B2B revenue will come from e-marketplaces.
CANADIAN BUSINESS ONLINE - According to a Dataquest survey, 70% of midsize
businesses based in Canada use dial-up internet access. 56 percent of such businesses use ISDN service,
while 26% use DSL. The survey predicts, however, that use
of DSL services will grow 15% over the
next year, while use of dial-up services will decline by 43%.
CISCO@US STATES
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!
New
Governors Face Technology Challenges – “Governors and e-expectations”
- http://governing.com/3talk.htm
Demand for IT workers in the US remains
strong, although it has slowed in the past year.
(http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356625&rel=true)
(http://cyberatlas.internet.com/markets/professional/article/0,,5971_732251,00.html)
Massachusetts - State's first female
governor sworn in -
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/101/nation/_Her_excellency_+.shtml
States Roll Out New Portals - Ohio
and Tennessee have gone online with upgraded state Web portals that
aim to make it easier for citizens to access state services and information. State officials said Tennessee Anytime, at
www.TennesseeAnytime.org, will integrate access to local, state and
federal services, including online driver's license renewals and child-support
tracking. Ohio's new portal,
at www.ohio.gov, features transactional links from the home page and
incorporates what state officials call an "intentions-based design"
that allows visitors to go directly to services and information without
having to know the appropriate state agency.
SITE
OF THE WEEK – “THOMAS – U.S. Congress on the Internet”
http://thomas.loc.gov/
Thomas is named
after Thomas Jefferson, an early supporter of the U.S. Library of Congress.
The Thomas service is everything you ever wanted to know about the U.S.
Congress and more. This week
in Washington, President George W. Bush honored, Thomas Jefferson, for
today, April 13th, Jefferson’s 258th birthday.
Read the announcement here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/04/20010412-5.html
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.
FACT AND STAT OF THE WEEK:
“Broadband – More popular than morning
coffee and newspaper.”
NEARLY TWO THIRDS OF DSL USERS WOULD
RATHER GIVE UP THEIR MORNING COFFEE THAN LOSE THEIR HIGH-SPEED INTERNET
CONNECTION. In a new "Broadband Watch" survey sponsored by
SBC Communications, respondents said they would be more likely to forego
their newspaper (79%), radio (74%), coffee (63%) or cable TV (59%) before
sacrificing their DSL service. The study found that DSL customers spend
an average of 25 hours online and 93 percent of consumers surveyed said
that broadband/DSL has improved their efficiency using the Internet.
HIGH-SPEED INTERNET IN EUROPE - According
to Jupiter MMXI, there will be 10 million broadband users in Europe
by 2003. Jupiter says that there are currently 3.5 million high-speed
internet users in the region. Access costs EUR 200 (USD $180) for sign-on
and EUR 50 (USD $45) per month for a subscription. Jupiter says that
penetration levels in Norway, Sweden and Finland will reach 30% by 2005.
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).
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
The Asian-Pacific broadband market is
set to grow by nearly 600 percent to USD15.9 billion by 2006, according
to a new report from Ovum. (http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356623&rel=true)
Worldwide Broadband Usage and Charts
– (http://www.netvalue.com/corp/presse/index_frame.htm?fichier=cp0028.htm)
Law Professor Sees
Hazard in Personalized News (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/13/technology/13CYBERLAW.html) (free registration required)
Internet Becoming
a Blue-Collar Neighborhood – In the past 12 months a study says home
Internet access for blue-collar workers grew 52 percent - faster than
any other occupational group. (http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/164471.html)
U.S. House Majority
Leader Says Go Slow on Privacy – (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/09/technology/09PRIV.html)
(free registration required)
Twelve percent of German Internet users
are using the wireless Web, in comparison with only 6 percent of British
and French users, according to NOP.
(http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356618&rel=true)
Only 5 percent of Latin American websites
have an e-commerce application, according to a new report. (http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356640&rel=true)
Fifty-one percent of South African Internet
users are women, up from 38 percent in March 1999, according to new
survey data from Webchek. (http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356627&rel=true)
IDC has predicted that there will be
75 million Internet user in Latin America by 2005, up from 15 million
last year. (http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356630&rel=true)
While 60 percent of all US urban households
have computers, only 52 percent of Hispanics and 48 percent of African
Americans do, according to new research from the Citizenship Education
Fund, which is led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. (http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356631&rel=true)
Eighty percent of Austrian young people
aged between 10 and 19 have Internet access, according to new research.
(http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356634&rel=true)
THE BROADBAND-iTV BLEND - eMarketer broadband
analyst Ben Macklin says interactive-TVs (iTVs) will not replace personal
computers (PCs) any time soon. Instead, broadband-enabled PCs will eventually
complement iTVs. (http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/broadband/20010403_broad_itv.html?ref=wn)
China's mobile users double in year -
The number of mobile phone subscribers in China almost doubled last
year, soaring to 85.3 million from 43.3 million in 1999, to boost the
mainland's position as the biggest and fastest-growing market for wireless
communications services in the Asia-Pacific region. (http://special.scmp.com/NLet/NLet.asp?Sec=technology&Id=ZZZWLMKY4LC)
(free registration required)
HK 'must ride China tech wave to compete'
- Hong Kong needs to make inroads into mainland China's burgeoning information
technology market or risk losing out in the global IT stakes, the territory's
Commissioner for Innovation and Technology said. (http://special.scmp.com/NLet/NLet.asp?Sec=technology&Id=ZZZLZ1LY4LC)
(free registration required)
Handsets to boost VoIP fortunes - Moves
to make voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) as popular in Hong Kong
as it is in mainland China will be boosted next month with the local
introduction of IP-based telephone sets by iNetTalk.com. (http://special.scmp.com/NLet/NLet.asp?Sec=technology&SSec=comm&Id=ZZZ6J6LY4LC)
(free registration required)
Shy suitors for 3G force Singapore to
kill auction - Singapore has pulled the plug on its third-generation
(3G) mobile licence auction as the sale of four parcels of spectrum
attracted just three potential bidders, all incumbent operators. (http://special.scmp.com/NLet/NLet.asp?Sec=technology&SSec=comm&Id=ZZZUHYMY4LC)
(free registration required)
NTT spin-off to spawn several new companies
- Telecoms giant Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) will spin off
the services and maintenance operations of its two regional carriers
into several new firms.
(http://special.scmp.com/NLet/NLet.asp?Sec=technology&SSec=comm&Id=ZZZQVPKY4LC)
(free registration required)
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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