Global Policy and Government Affairs (GPGA)

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HOUSE HANDS BUSH NARROW VICTORY WITH VOTE FOR CAFTA— The House narrowly approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement this morning, delivering a hard-fought victory to President Bush while underscoring the nation's deep divisions over trade. The 217 to 215 vote came just after midnight, in a dramatic finish that highlighted the intensity brought by both sides to the battle. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/27/AR2005072701195.html (Free registration required)

PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE WHITE PAPER – “PRINCIPLES FOR AN OPEN BROADBAND FUTURE” - http://www.publicknowledge.org/content/papers/open-broadband-future

REPORT: FCC NOMINEES ON THE WAY— Telecom analysts at research firm Legg Mason said in a report today that the Bush administration is close to naming two nominees to the Federal Communications Commission, a move toward restoring the Republican voting majority on the FCC. The Legg Mason report named current Bush aides Michael Meece and Richard Russell as potential FCC nominees, along with Tennessee state regulator Deborah Taylor Tate and Suzanne Haik Terrell, who ran for a Senate seat in Louisiana in 2002. http://www.advancedippipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166402998

TELECOM LEGISLATION PROVOKES CONFLICTING VIEWS— Legislation to renew the Telecommunications Act of 1996 introduced earlier this week by U. S. Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada) drew quick responses from both sides of the issue with telecom industry firms generally supporting the legislation and consumer groups generally opposing it. http://www.techweb.com/wire/ebiz/166403418

US STARTS DEBATE ON BILL TO OVERHAUL BROADBAND RULES—A debate over upgrading US telecommunications laws for the digital era began with a proposal aimed at substantially deregulating broadband, satellite and cell phone services. Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, introduced a bill that reopens a national dispute that has been simmering, but not fully engaged, since the 1996 Telecommunications Act was enacted. The drafters of the law did not envision the explosive growth of the Internet, wireless and broadband technologies over the last decade. http://www.telecomasia.net/telecomasia/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=172432

FCC CHIEF PUSHES FOR EASING RULES ON DSL BROADBAND— Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday pushed his colleagues to move quickly to ease regulations on high-speed Internet service offered by U.S. telephone companies. Martin said he has circulated a proposal that would treat the service, known as digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband, as an information service. If approved, that would exempt it from most traditional telephone rules, such as requirements to lease network access to competitors. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-07-26T230318Z_01_N26180255_RTRIDST_0_NET-TELECOMS-FCC-BROADBAND-DC.XML

FCC ESTABLISHES NET TELEPHONY E911 TASK FORCE— The Federal Communications Commission announced Monday the creation of a task force made up of federal and state officials that will help enforce 911 service requirements for Internet telephony providers. Individuals from the FCC and state public utility commissions will serve as members of the task force, and they will work closely with representatives from the public safety community, the FCC said. http://news.com.com/FCC+establishes+Net+telephony+E911+task+force/2100-7352_3-5803806.html?tag=cd.top

MISSING COMMISSIONER KEEPS FCC IDLE ON SOME ISSUES— Republican vacancy means the potential for deadlocked votes, keeping some issues at a standstill. Feral regulators were all set to dive into the thorny issue of media ownership rules when a problem cropped up: They couldn't agree on how to get started. http://www.advancedippipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166403229

HOMELAND SECURITY TO LAUNCH RFID SYSTEMS AT BORDER CROSSINGS— The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will install radio frequency technology at five border posts with Canada and Mexico to track foreigners driving in and out of North America. In its ongoing efforts to tighten border security and monitor possible terrorist and criminal activity, Bob Mocny of the Department of Homeland Security said the wireless chips for vehicles would become mandatory at designated border crossings in Canada and Mexico as of next Thursday. http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166403260

BROADBAND BILL WOULD DEREGULATE VIDEO SERVICES, SPUR VOIP— Telecommunications overhaul legislation introduced July 27 in the Senate would among other things roll back current restrictions on providing video services and assure consumer access to Internet-based phone service. The Broadband Consumer Choice Act of 2005 was introduced by Sen. John Ensign, R. Nev. It is intended to replace provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=
KHAYXZSTETLRAQSNDBCCKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=166403152

SENATE IS EXPECTED TO RESTORE HEALTH IT FUNDS— The Health and Human Services Department’s health IT initiative will likely get full funding next year after all. The Senate Appropriations Committee had cut $30 million from the president’s request for health IT, but the initiative to create a national health IT network enjoys bipartisan support and is an administration priority. Even in a tight budget year, lawmakers probably will restore the funds, a committee staff member said. http://www.gcn.com/24_20/tech-infrastructure/36456-1.html

COMMISSION AUTHORISES FOR ONE YEAR “BROADBAND” REGULATION IN FRANCE AS STEP TOWARDS MORE COMPETITION - France Télécom will be required to provide, for a transitional period, market players with wholesale nationwide high-speed access to France’s telecoms network. HTTP://EUROPA.EU.INT/RAPID/PRESSRELEASESACTION.DO?REFERENCE=
IP/05/1012&FORMAT=HTML&AGED=0&LANGUAGE=EN

EUROPEAN R&D SPENDING STAGNATING— The European Commission has issued new figures on research and development that it says points to a 'worrying trend in R&D investment and innovation in Europe'. The growth of R&D intensity (R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP) has been declining since 2000 and is now close to zero. http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=9284

UK STAYS TOP OF G7 BROADBAND COVERAGE LEAGUE— The UK remains ranked first in the world for broadband availability yet still lags behind on offering competitively-priced services, according to latest research for the British government. http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=9317

BRITISH HACKER APPEARS IN COURT TO FIGHT U.S. EXTRADITION REQUEST— A British computer hacker wanted in the United States for allegedly infiltrating military computer systems appeared in a London court for an extradition hearing Wednesday. Gary McKinnon, 39, is accused of accessing 97 government computers between February 2001 and March 2002, causing 700,000 dollars (euro585,00) in damage in what one U.S. attorney called “the biggest hack of military computers ever.” McKinnon is fighting extradition. http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166402941

FRANCE TELECOM RIVALS GIVEN ACCESS TO BROADBAND NETWORK— The European Commission has stated that France Telecom must provide rival operators with access to its broadband network for a year in order to provide customers in France with a greater choice of high-speed Internet services. The measure is said to have been suggested by ARCEP, the telecomms regulator in France and was authorized with the intention of opening up competition for wholesale broadband in France, by the European Union executive. http://www.stockhouse.com/news/news.asp?tick=WFA&newsid=2857143

GERMANY HAS LOWEST BROADBAND OWNERSHIP IN EUROPE – REPORT— Research has revealed that Germany has the lowest level of broadband ownership out of 14 countries in Europe, with only 24% of homes in Germany expected to have broadband by the end of this year. A report released by Strategy Analytics Inc, a research and consulting firm, claims that Germany's fragmented and highly-regulated cable industry holds back the growth of broadband. It also said that due to Germany's limited competition, Deutsche Telekom lacks incentive to introduce an aggressive growth strategy for broadband. http://www.stockhouse.com/news/news.asp?tick=DT&newsid=2859190

ITALIAN REGULATOR CONSULTS ON VOIP AUTHORISATION— The Italian communications regulatory authority, AGCOM, has opened a public consultation on a set of proposed regulatory interventions relating to VoIP-enabled services. http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=9373

PC PENETRATION TO DOUBLE— PC penetration in the GCC and Levant regions is set to double by 2008, according to a study by Dubai-based Madar Research Group. The number of PCs expected to be sold in the two regional blocs between 2003 and 2008 will be around 15m. Lebanon and Jordan will be among the fastest adopters with a PC penetration of 15.8 and 13.9% respectively in 2008, against the regional average of 7%. PC sales in Iraq are predicted to see a quantum leap by 2008.
http://www.ameinfo.com/64735.html

SLOVAKIA SEES 527% GROWTH IN BROADBAND PENETRATION— Slovakia has seen the fastest increase in broadband penetration in the EU, with a 527 per cent growth in the number of high-speed internet connections in the country over the last year. http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=9292

ETISALAT TO LOWER NET COST— Etisalat is to lower the cost of DSL services for domestic and business users by the end of the year, officials told Gulf News. They said that subscribers will be offered double the present speed at the same price thanks to recent investments in new technology. http://www.ameinfo.com/64851.html

MOZAMBIC-AGREEMENT ON ICT TRAINING— The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Italian government on Thursday signed in Maputo an agreement that establishes mechanisms of multilateral financing for a project to develop Mozambican human resources in the sphere of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). http://allafrica.com/stories/200507280555.html

CANADA- TELEPHONE FIRMS APPEAL TO CABINET OVER VOIP RULING— Canada's largest telephone companies officially switched tack yesterday in their battle over Internet-based phone services, launching an appeal to the federal cabinet of the telecommunications regulator's recent landmark ruling. http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050729/RTICKER29-5/TPTechnology/

CANADA, DENMARK DUKE OUT SOVEREIGNTY ISSUE VIA WEB— Canada and Denmark have taken their diplomatic tussle over a scrappy lump of Arctic rocks to the Internet, with competing Google ads claiming sovereignty over Hans Island. The flap has provoked some Canadians to call for a boycott of Danish pastry, in the same vain as Americans pooh-poohing french fries when Paris declined to join the coalition forces in Iraq. http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=166403565

LATIN AMERICA- ALETI: SECTOR TO GROW 15-20% THIS YEAR—Latin American IT association Aleti expects the industry in the region to grow 15-20% this year, aiming to regain by 2006 average growth levels seen prior to the 2000 economic crisis, Aleti president Jorge Cassino told BNamericas. http://www.bnamericas.com/story.jsp?idioma=I&sector=1&noticia=324553

NEORIS SEES REVS FROM RFID WITHIN 2 YRS—Miami-based IT consulting firm Neoris sees radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions becoming an important part of its revenue in Latin America in two years' time, Neoris chief technical officer Lionel Carrasco says, the demand for RFID is higher in Latin America than in the US, however, the pressure to implement it is still stronger in the US. http://www.bnamericas.com/story.jsp?idioma=I&sector=1&noticia=324685

MEXICO-IT SPENDING TO RISE 13% IN 2005—IT spending in Mexico is expected to grow 13% in 2005 to US$32bn compared to US$28bn in 2004 according to Javier Allard, director of Mexico's IT association. http://www.bnamericas.com/story.jsp?idioma=I&sector=1&noticia=324882

HONDURAS-CONATEL AWARDS 3.5GHZ LICENSES FOR WIMAX—Honduran telecoms regulator Conatel awarded two 3.5Ghz band licenses intended to be used for developing Wimax broadband services, Conatel president José Renán Caballero said. Caballero said he believed the companies would start to build out Wimax networks by year-end or the beginning of 2006, adding that the licenses cover the whole country, not just cities. http://www.bnamericas.com/story.jsp?idioma=I&sector=2&noticia=325165

SUBSIDIES, NOT REGS, WILL IMPROVE AUSSIE RURAL SERVICES: MINISTER—Telecommunication services to the bush will not be improved through more regulation of Telstra, Finance Minister Nick Minchin said. Communications Minister Helen Coonan is currently reviewing how the industry is regulated in Australia in the lead-up to the government's planned sale of the final part of Telstra. But Minchin says subsidies, not regulation, are the key to getting services to rural areas right. http://www.telecomasia.net/telecomasia/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=171812

JAPAN PLANS WORLD'S FASTEST COMPUTER— Japan wants to develop a supercomputer that can operate at 10 petaflops, or 10 quadrillion calculations per second, which is 73 times faster than the current top-ranked IBM's Blue Gene. http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=
KHAYXZSTETLRAQSNDBCCKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=166402412

CHINA'S INTERNET USERS TOP 130M: CNNIC— China currently has Internet users numbering more than 130 million, becoming the world's second largest user base behind the US, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said. According to the center's statistics, by the end of June 30, China's Internet user base already surpassed 100 million. http://www.telecomasia.net/telecomasia/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=171995

NEWLY LIBERATED YUAN COULD COOL CHINA TECH— A rising Chinese yuan could dampen the Chinese technology industry just as it tries to break into international markets. Last week, China announced it will stop pegging its currency to the U.S. dollar. That peg had kept the yuan artificially low vs. the dollar — as much as 40% undervalued, some experts say. That has given Chinese-made products a price advantage on world markets, and made it cheap for the West to invest in Chinese companies. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-07-24-yuan-usat_x.htm

HK TO ISSUE UNIFIED BROADBAND LICENSES NEXT YEAR— Hong Kong will issue licenses next year to allow both fixed and mobile phone firms to offer broadband wireless services, newspapers said on Saturday, bringing "anytime, anywhere" Internet access closer to reality. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-07-24T053912Z_01_HKG338989_RTRIDST_0_TECH-TELECOMS-HONGKONG-OFTA-DC.XML

THAI REGULATOR HOLDS PUBLIC HEARING ON ISSUANCE OF TELECOM LICENSES—Thailand's National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) recently held a public hearing on the criteria for the issuance of telecom business licenses. NTC chairman Chuchart Phromphrasit said the public hearing will be divided into four groups. The first group will concern specifications of the types of telecom businesses that must receive a license, as well as criteria for permission-granting of types 1, 2, and 3 telecom business conduct and license fees. http://www.telecomasia.net/telecomasia/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=172663

OFTA PLANS UNIFIED WIRELESS BROADBAND LICENSING—Plans for a unified licensing system for wireless broadband services in Hong Kong in 2006 have been revealed. According to the Office of the Telecommunications Authority, all fixed and mobile operators will be subject to the same regulations under a unified licensing system. http://www.telecomasia.net/telecomasia/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=171993

GLOBAL MEDIA WATCHDOG CONDEMNS VIETNAM INTERNET CURBS— International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned a directive by Vietnam's ruling communist party aimed at stepping up surveillance of Internet use in the country. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050727/
wl_asia_afp/vietnaminternetmedia_050727023959

LAPD RECRUITS COMPUTER TO STOP ROGUE COPS— Dogged by scandal, the Los Angeles Police Department is looking beyond human judgment to technology to identify bad cops. This month, the agency began using a $35 million computer system that tracks complaints and other telling data about officers - then alerts top supervisors to possible signs of misconduct. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=
1700&slug=LAPD%20Computer%20Watchdog

KHANNA NAMED MINNESOTA CIO— Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) has named Gopal Khanna, a former federal CIO, to serve as the state’s first CIO, the governor’s office announced this week. Khanna begins work Aug. 15. Khanna served in the Bush administration both as CIO and chief financial officer (CFO) of the Peace Corps http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/technology-policy/36546-1.html

GEORGIA GOVERNOR PERDUE LEADS TECHNOLOGY AND TRADE MISSION TO ISRAEL— Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue will lead a technology and trade mission to Israel, November 4 - 11, 2005. The mission, which will include officials from the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) and business leaders from targeted Georgia industries, will take the Governor to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Yokneam-Megiddo, Ra'anana and Nazareth. The Governor and GDEcD officials will meet with Israeli governmental leaders and potential business investors in the technology and bioscience industries. http://www.govtech.net/news/news.php?id=95642

NUMBER OF BROADBAND SUBSCRIBERS TO DOUBLE BY 2009 – REPORT— The number of broadband subscribers worldwide is to more than double to almost 350m, according to a report from market analysis firm Dell'Oro Group. The worldwide market for service provider routers will grow at double-digit rates over the next five years and will approach €4.1bn by 2009. http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=9342

WIMAX SALES TO GROW NEARLY 1000 PER CENT— WiMax is already making its way from hype to money-spinner, analysts have found. Infonetics Research predicts WiMax equipment sales will grow almost tenfold this year, generating $124.5m, compared to $16.4m in 2004.Infonetics believes WiMax will start to make its way onto mobiles and other portable devices from around 2007, when the standards are signed off and hardware makers start to include WiMax capabilities on their devices. http://networks.silicon.com/broadband/0,39024661,39150854,00.htm

NET FRAUD IN OVER-50 BRACKET ON RISE— American seniors reported losing $152 million to scams, a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) official told Congress on Wednesday, with the biggest chunk hijacked by Internet fraudsters. Net fraud is growing quickly in the over-50 age bracket, said Lois Greisman of the FTC’s consumer protection division in testimony before the Senate Committee on Aging. http://www.techweb.com/wire/security/166403379

WIMAX INTEREST SPREADING TO ASIA— The epicenter of WiMAX interest is shifting to Asia as the wireless broadband technology begins to undergo serious testing in China, Korea and Japan, with an eye towards imminent adoption. That's the view of Ron Resnick, president and chair of the WiMAX Forum, who discussed the shift in an interview in the wake of the recent WiMAX Forum meeting in Vancouver. http://www.techweb.com/wire/networking/166403342

ROUTING PHONE CALLS OVER INTERNET COULD MAKE TELEWORKING EASIER— A recently popularized technology that routes phone calls over the Internet to a computer using a high-speed connection, known as Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, could end the need-to-be-at-the-phone predicament for would-be teleworking federal workers. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0705/072605p1.htm

ELDERLY AMERICANS LOSE MILLIONS TO INTERNET SCAMS— Scams involving Internet auctions, as well as identity theft, lotteries, prizes and sweepstakes, top the list of fraud complaints by older Americans, who lost $152 million to con artists last year, U.S. officials told a Senate panel. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-07-28T140924Z_01_N27279276_RTRIDST_0_NET-CONGRESS-SCAMS-DC.XML

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