InternetPolicy.net

Sprint, SBC Forge Wi-Fi Pact

Two telecom providers have come together in the name of Wi-Fi. Sprint and SBC Communications have
signed a bi-lateral roaming agreement that will enable their customers more wireless access while on the go. The agreement will enable the companies' customers to access the Internet using their existing user ID and password while on Sprint and SBC-owned Wi-Fi networks. http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=document&doc_id=135368&verticalID=34&vertical=Business+and+Finance&industry=

Self-configuring multifunction mobile terminals

Software Defined Radios (SDRs) are mobile devices that can be reconfigured over the air. Users could download new services from network operators, and even have voice and email services provided by different networks. The SCOUT project has studied how SDRs will be regulated and marketed. http://istresults.cordis.lu//index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&ID=69663

The Economic and Social Benefits of Broadband Deployment

This paper presents a perspective of the industry on the impact of broadband. Authors review existing literature and several cases and conclude that broadband is an accelerator of economic development. The benefits for users and providers are attributed to direct and indirect factors, including greater efficiencies in time, money, distribution of goods, services, and information. Broadband enables higher productivity in the work place, creation of new jobs, increased wages, better quality of service, innovation and lower prices. Increased access to broadband triggers greater demand for computing and communications equipment, increased e-commerce, reductions in commuting, increased consumption of digital products and services; and savings in government, private sector, education and healthcare. The paper stresses however that adequate policy and regulatory reforms are critical, and presents diverse examples of applications in several countries, in areas such as telemedicine, teleworking, e-government, agriculture, distance education, people with disabilities, public safety, national security, utilities, small businesses, tourism, e-commerce and entertainment. Published by the Telecomuunications Industry Association, October 2003, 38 p. http://www.tiaonline.org/policy/broadband/Broadbandpaperoct03.pdf

Service Providers Put Up Their Guards

Worms, viruses, spam, denial of service attacks. Addressing the litany of network security issues these days is scarier than watching the local news. So service providers increasingly are stepping in to help сustomers figure out how to best guard themselves against attack. http://www.xchangemag.com/articles/481buzserv1.html

Integrity Drive Performance: A New Strategy for Success

Governance, transparency and accountability reforms that followed the
corporate failures of the past two years have dramatically changed
today's business environment. Organisations across the globe are
navigating a proliferation of new standards and stakeholder
expectations, and are challenged to do so in a way that supports
performance

http://www.pwc.com/extweb/newcolth.nsf/docid/D49E69056F450FEA85256EBA00773E8D?OpenDocument

Better News on Internet Backbones

Some potentially good news for equipment vendors can be found in a
study of the supply and demand for international Internet bandwidth
about to be released by market research consultancy TeleGeography
Inc.. The annual survey, entitled "Global Internet Geography,"
indicates that utilization rates of Internet backbones have been
creeping...

http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/8874?7649

More:

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=57425

ICC Telecoms Liberalization. An international business guide for policymakers

The International Chamber of Commerce has launched a new guide to assist countries considering embarking on the liberalization of their communications infrastructure.

http://www.iccwbo.org/home/statements_rules/statements/2004/liberalization.pdf

Laos' new gateway: Viet Nam

Viet Nam's official state news agency VNA says that "Viet Nam will provide high-speed Internet access to Laos... A contract to this effect was signed on Thursday [15 July] between the Vietnam Data-communications Company (VDC) and the Lao Telecommunications Company... The VDC's international channel capacity will top 1,000 Mbps by the end of July and reach 1,425 Mbps by the fourth quarter of this year."

China implementing IPv9??

"Reports from China that the country has widely adopted a next generation Internet protocol, called IPv9, have raised eyebrows in the networking community," John Leyden notes on The Register. "IPv9 which is 'compatible with IPv4 and IPv6, has been formally adapted and popularised into the civil and commercial sector,' The People's Daily reports. "This was news to the sysadmin crowd on NANOG, who'd never heard of IPv9 as an established technical standard.... We asked the IPv6 Task Force, a UK group formed last year to promote wider adoption of IPv6, the next generation Internet protocol, if they could shed any light. But they were equally perplexed by the Chinese reports which have been repeated unchallenged in the IT press today. Mat Ford, technology adviser to the IPv6 Task Force, said: 'In the absence of any public technical specification, this is still in the category of "sub-vapourware" at the moment.'"

FCC asserts "exclusive jurisdiction" over unlicensed spectrum

Following up an item from 3 weeks ago in this blog, ComputerWeekly reports that the US Federal Communications Commission has ruled that it has "exclusive jurisdiction" over the use of unlicensed radio frequencies. At issue was a series of disputes between airline companies and airport owners over who had the right to regulate wi-fi systems in airports. Airport owners had argued that as landlords, they had the right to set rules for unlicensed radio systems in their facilities. The Industrial Telecommunications Association complained about that to the FCC last March. "In its decision," explains CW's Bob Brewin, "the FCC came down soundly on the side of airlines and other users of spectrum in multi-tenant environments, which would include airports, hotels and conference and convention centres. The FCC said in its ruling that 'we reaffirm that, under the Communications Act, the FCC has exclusive authority to resolve matters involving radio frequency interference when unlicensed devices are being used, regardless of venue...'" This ruling is likely to preempt many potential obstacles to the installation and use of wi-fi networks in the United States.

[Thanks to WirelessUnleashed for the pointer. The text of the FCC's announcement has not yet appeared on their website.]