| This Week@Cisco in Government Affairs |
| Cisco's E-Update keeps you up to date on the major policy news of the week. Focusing on broadband, education and e-government areas, but covering high-tech and telecom in general, the E-Update is a great source of information for policymakers. Click EUpdate to become a subscriber.
If you have high-tech public policy news or announcements that you think other e-update subscribers would be interested in, please send them to john.earnhardt@cisco.com. There are over 1300 subscribers to Cisco Government Affairs' eUpdate. CISCO GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS WEBSITE - Please visit www.cisco.com/gov to view our worldwide government affairs website. You can reach any member of the team at: http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/govtaffairs/contact/. Also see Q&A with Laura Ipsen, Vice President of Worldwide Government Affairs, as she reviews the issues that Cisco is focusing on: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/media_info/public_policy_overview.html |
| TOP NEWS OF THE WEEK |
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THE YEAR IN TECHNOLOGY– Will 2004 be remembered as the year the technology sector grew up? There are plenty of reasons to think so. VOIP GATHERING PACE – Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is set to gain traction in European businesses during 2005, gaining widespread acceptance by 2008, according to analyst group Forrester Research. |
| This Week@WASHINGTON, DC |
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THE RELUCTANT PLANNER – FCC Chairman Michael Powell speaks about broadcast indecency enforcement, spectrum ownership, media ownership rules, diversity and localism, low power radio and unlicensed spectrum. FCC RELEASES DATA ON HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE – High-Speed Connections to the Internet Increased 15% During the First Half of 2004 for a Total of 32 Million Lines in Service. BROADBAND STEAMS AHEAD IN THE US – More and more Americans are joining the internet's fast lane, according to official figures. The number of people and business connected to broadband jumped by 38% in a year, said the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). FCC ROLLS BACK NETWORK SHARING RULES FOR BELLS – The FCC said local phone incumbents, such as the Baby Bells, are not required to share their telecommunications switching gear with competitors such as start-ups or long distance companies. FCC SWEETENS NEXTEL SPECTRUM DEAL – Federal regulators sweetened a $4.8 billion deal aimed at ending cell phone interference that has affected hundreds of public safety systems around the country. FCC MAY ALLOW IN-FLIGHT CELL-PHONE USE – The FCC has voted to consider eliminating its ban on the use of cell phones on airplanes. CELLPHONES IN FLIGHT: THE STORY IS DATA, NOT CHATTER – As regulatory authorities seek comment and study the technological and safety implications, no one expects the existing ban on using cellphones on commercial flights to be eased for at least two years, if ever. More important, it appears there is not a great deal of support for in-flight cellphone chatter among business travelers, whom most airlines regard as their most valuable customers. Leisure travelers are even less enamored. FUNDING FOR RURAL TELEMEDICINE SERVICES – The FCC adopted an order to expand its program to bring up-to-date medical services and information to rural areas through telecommunications. DOLLAR SIGNS ON THE AIRWAVES – Nearly 50 mobile phone service providers registered to bid in an auction of spectrum licenses next month that will kick off what industry watchers expect to be a brisk year for sales of rights to use public airwaves. INDUSTRY, PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS OPPOSE FCC PROPOSAL TO IMPOSE DESIGN MANDATES ON VOIP – A group of companies, trade associations and public interest groups from across the political spectrum filed two sets of joint comments at the Federal Communications Commission arguing that extending controversial wiretap design mandates to the Internet and VoIP services will seriously harm technology innovation in the United States. E-GOV CONFIDENCE GROWS – Federal information technology officials' confidence that the 24 e-government initiatives will be successful has more than doubled since 2003 AIR FORCE SEEKS CYBERWAR EDGE – Air Force officials plan to award contracts worth up to $25 million for computer warfare technologies, according to a solicitation issued. FEDS SAY 70% OF IT SYSTEMS NOW SECURE – A White House report that says E-government is maturing also says government's ability to secure IT systems and measure IT performance is improving. AT&T UNIT TO BUILD NETWORK FOR TREASURY – AT&T Government Solutions will provide a high-speed communications network to the Treasury Department. |
| This Week@EMEA |
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EU SOFTWARE PATENT MEASURE PLACED IN LIMBO – A measure that could allow widespread software patenting in Europe was unexpectedly tabled by the European Union's Council in Brussels. EUROPEAN HEALTHCARE TO SPEND $2.1BN ON E-RECORDS – Electronic patient records are the first thing Western European healthcare providers will be spending their IT budgets on in the next four to five years, according to market researcher IDC. USERS AND PROVIDERS WARMING TO IP VPNS – Analyst house Frost & Sullivan forecasts the IP VPN market in Europe will grow from being worth €2.73bn in 2003 to €8.56bn in 2008 EUROPE BEATS USA IN WIRELESS SO INTEL SAYS – Who would have thought that old Continent can beat USA in the number of wireless connections? We saw an Intel document which said that Europe has far more hot spots than USA. 2004: THE YEAR OF BRITISH BROADBAND – It's been a good year for broadband in the UK. Take-up has almost doubled; charges have continued to fall, breaking the all important £20 a month price point; and more of us can hook up to it - if that's what we want. NORTHROP GRUMMAN WINS U.K. FINGERPRINTING JOB –Northrop Grumman Information Technology of the United States won a $244 million contract to provide advanced biometric identification technology to United Kingdom law enforcement agencies. BRITISH OPERATOR MMO2 PLANS 'SUPER-FAST' HSDPA SERVICE IN 2005 – MMO2 plans to launch Europe's first "super-fast" 3G mobile broadband data network in the summer of 2005. 3 UK TO SUE GOVERNMENT IF OFCOM RELAXES 3G TARGETS – 3 UK is planning legal action against the UK government in pursuit of compensation for the GBP1 billion ($1.94 billion) it was forced to spend on the launch of its 3G mobile network KISTA, SWEDEN DEMONSTRATES CITYWIDE CONTEXT-AWARE WIRELESS PLATFORM –Wireless network allows users to download information relevant to services available in their immediate vicinity to handheld devices WI-FI ON THE AUTOBAHN? – The German government hopes Wi-Fi (define) will pave the way for safer and less congested roads, but first it is looking for a little help from the automobile industry. |
| This Week@Americas International |
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CISCO LATIN AMERICAN BUSINESS OUTPACES GLOBAL GROWTH – Latin American sales at Cisco Systems continue to outpace its global sales, Andrew Sage, Cisco senior director of marketing for Americas International. |
| This Week@Asia-Pacific/Japan |
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NZ ANTI-SPAM BILL MISSES THE CUT – The New Zealand Government expects to take the wraps off an anti-spam bill in January after running out of time to get a bill in front of parliament this year, as originally planned. E-PASSPORTS GO DOWN UNDER – The Australian Government has awarded a contract to a Herndon, Va.-based company to help develop a secure electronic passport for its citizens. AUSTRALIAN POLICE GET GO-AHEAD ON SPYWARE-- Australian police have been given the power to install spyware and Trojans on suspected criminals' computers under the new Surveillance Devices Act. TELECOM FIJI PLANS PRE-WIMAX SYSTEM – SR Telecom’s symmetry Broadband Fixed Wireless Access system has been chosen by Telecom Fiji to bring voice and broadband data access to certain areas of the country. JAPAN MAY LIFT BAN ON DATA COMMUNICATIONS VIA POWER LINES – Japan plans to launch a debate on lifting a ban on using power lines for data communications, enabling people get access to the internet at high speed, an official said. JAPANESE WIRELESS OPERATOR INVESTS IN U.S. LINUX VENDOR – Linux as a platform for mobile devices received another boost when Japanese wireless operator NTT DoCoMo announced that it has invested in U.S. Linux vendor MontaVista Software. THE CHINA SYNDROME – China is fast becoming one of the world's largest networking markets, and China-based networking manufacturing companies are increasingly targeting overseas markets THE TECHNOLOGICAL RISE OF CHINA WAS SPEEDY – At first blush, the sale of International Business Machines Corp.'s PC unit to China's biggest PC maker, Lenovo group, seemed quite shocking. After all, Lenovo is a Chinese company -- majority government-owned even -- and it's gobbling up a storied asset of the bluest American blue chip. 18 FOREIGNERS APPLY FOR VAS LICENSES IN CHINA –China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) says 18 foreign investors had submitted applications by the end of November 2004 to establish wholly-owned telecoms subsidiaries in China. HONK KONG’S OFTA DECISION CREATES INCENTIVE FOR 3G MVNOS – Hong Kong's telecom watchdog, the Office of Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), to postpone plans to issue a new 3G license has potentially given new incentive for Hong Kong's non-3G license holders to go the MVNO route to achieving 3G. CHINA’S UNICOM SUBSCRIBERS HIT 110.5M-- Hong Kong-listed China Unicom said the number of its mobile subscribers rose to 110.55 million at the end of November, from 108.99 million at the end of October. INDIAN TECH CITY TURNS TO MICROSOFT—Microsoft to network Indian state, Banglore's, utilities and services INDIA MERGER WILL CREATE NEW TOP-20 OPERATOR –India’s Ministry of Communication & Information Technology has endorsed the merger of MTNL with BSNL, which will lead to the birth of a new member of the world’s top-20 telecoms companies. INDIA CONSIDERS 74% FDI FOR TELECOMS – Foreign direct investment of up to 74% is under consideration for India’s telecoms sector, according to communications and IT minister Dayanidhi Maran EXPERTS SAY INDIA'S CYBER LAW IS OUTDATED – An Indian court may have granted bail to the India head of eBay auction house in connection with a sex video being sold on the Web site, but the captains of information technology industry are seething with anger over the ambiguity of nation's cyber law. PAKISTAN GOVT UNVEILS BROADBAND POLICY, BANDWIDTH RATES CUT – Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, the federal minister for information technology, unveiled the government’s Broadband Internet Policy, setting the stage for what he called “an affordable, ‘always on,’ broadband high-speed internet service” in the corporate and residential sectors across Pakistan. |
| This Week@US States |
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COMMENTARY: A NATIONAL TELEPHONE TAX? – The NGA – along with its buddies at the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National League of Counties, the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors -- desperately wants to tax internet use. And they're hoping that internet phone calls, the latest hot web application, will pave the way. CONNECTICUT GOV. ANNOUNCES PERMANENT HALT TO IT CENTRALIZATION-- Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced that she is reversing the decision of the previous administration to centralize the administration of all state computer operations in the Department of Information Technology (DOIT) BEST OF CALIFORNIA 2004: 'MOVING BEYOND THE E' – There is no longer any questions that IT has increased productivity in government, he said, and so it is time for California to move "beyond the e." ITAA CALLS ON CALIFORNIA TO CRAFT A BETTER DEAL FOR TAXPAYERS ON TELECOM CONTRACT – The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) last week asked the state of California to halt a telecommunications procurement potentially worth $2.1 billion ANTISPAM LAW RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL – A Maryland judge has tossed out a lawsuit against an alleged spammer, saying a state law restricting unsolicited e-mail is unconstitutional because it unfairly restricts interstate commerce. IN RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, SELF-HELP WEB SITES ASSIST PUBLIC WITH LEGAL QUESTIONS – Courthouses in the area are going self-service through Web sites and computer access to legal forms and case files. IN HOUSTON COUNTY, GEORGIA, PARENTS CHECK UP ON KIDS AT SCHOOL – Parents can check up on their children's school attendance, grades, home work and test scores on the Internet. http://www.govtech.net/?pg=magazine/channel_story&channel=7&id=92568 CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON INVESTS IN PRISON VIDEO NETWORK – A contract with the state Department of Administrative Services was signed, allowing access to an Internet video network. The system reduces security risks and the cost of transporting prisoners to hearings |
| Other Tech News Of The Week |
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DAWNING OF THE BROADBAND ERA – More Americans accessing the Internet through a high-speed connection than through slower dial-up by a ratio of 51 to 49. VOIP PIONEER PREDICTS A ROILING 2005 FOR IP TELEPHONY – Open source software communications will begin to influence the VoIP market in a big way next year TELEPHONY'S FUTURE GETS MUCH SIMPLER – For consumers, the benefit of VoIP has been found in the lower costs VoIP companies charge. BROADBAND NATION – Most evenings, the whole Suhre family is online at once. Their lives, online and off, have been transformed by their broadband connection. As prices dropped over the past year, broadband use at home has surpassed that of dial-up in the United States, reaching 53 percent of residential Web users in October, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. VONAGE SERVICE TO RETAIL AT COMPUSA OUTLETS – Vonage signed on CompUSA to sell its Net phone service through 229 stores run by the retail chain. COVAD, VERIZON REWORK DSL DEAL – Broadband ISP Covad on Wednesday revised its deal to lease DSL lines from Verizon Communications in anticipation of pending changes in telecommunications regulations NOKIA OFFERS MOBILE WORKFORCE TOOLS – Nokia is providing a set of tools based on RFID technology to help businesses get the most from their workers in the field. ENTERPRISES TO BOOST 2005 IT SPENDING 3.9 PERCENT – According to Forrester Research's survey of over 1,300 IT decision makers in companies with more than 1,000 workers, employer spending for information technology will increase by an average of 3.9 percent in 2005. ULTRAWIDEBAND SPEC BATTLE TAKES SHAPE – In a battle to establish a de facto standard, is it better to deliver technology first or to have the greater number of supporters? The emergence of ultrawideband (UWB) products, which allow a wide variety of PC and consumer electronics devices to exchange information over high-speed wireless networks, may provide an answer to that question |
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