Municipal broadband goals can be accomplished despite setbacks, but probably not via Wi-Fi, panelists said Thursday at the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors conference. Muni Wi-Fi networks largely were “launched on hype,” said lawyer James Baller. WiMAX and other next-gen wireless technologies could make muni viable, other panelists said. On a larger scale, to compete globally the U.S. needs a national broadband strategy, Baller said.
Exports to China
China Mobile will launch a 3G network for commercial users in eight Chinese Olympic cities this month, the company said. System testing of TD-SCDMA, China’s homegrown 3G standard, had started, it said. China’s Ministry of Information Industry, which oversees the country’s telecommunication services industry, had not yet issued 3G licenses.
China Mobile is to begin in April commercial deployment of TD-SCDMA technology, a 3G wireless network standard by the China Academy of Telecommunications Technology, China Mobile CEO Jian-Yu Wang said in a release from Spreadtrum. Spreadtrum sells China Mobile TD-SCMA solutions. China Mobile will offer what it calls “attractively priced” calling plans, six subsidized handset models, USIM cards for those who buy TD-SCDMA handsets via other channels and demonstration centers in eight cities, said Spreadtrum CEO Ping Wu. Plans include financial incentives for resellers, publicity campaigns and after-sale customer support, said Wu.
Motorola signed a contract with China Unicom Shanghai Branch for building the first Value-Added Service Platform for Shanghai Unicom, it said. Shanghai Branch Co. will use Motorola’s Global Applications Management Architecture Service Delivery Platform, said Motorola. The deal marks Motorola’s entry into the region’s service provider data applications management market, the company said.
HOLLYWOOD -- Dramatic policy change is needed to boost American innovation in telecommunications and digital technology, panelists said Wednesday at a Tech Policy Summit. They cited government pennypinching as the biggest drag on U.S. status as a global digital leader.
Growth in international communications-related traffic led AT&T and NTT to join a consortium to build the Trans-Pacific Express submarine cable network, they said. The network will enhance reliability by providing more ways for traffic generated throughout the Asia-Pacific region to get to the U.S., they said. TPE, a high-bandwidth fiber submarine cable linking Japan, mainland China, Korea, Taiwan and the U.S., is being built by a consortium including China Netcom, China Telecom, China Unicom, Chungwha Telecom, KT and Verizon. The cable network can carry as much as 5.12 terabits per second over a total of 18,000 kilometers. Phase 1 of the China-U.S. route is to be operating by August, with landing points in major coastal cities in northeast China, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S., according to NTT. A direct connection between Shinmaruyama, near Tokyo, and the west coast of the U.S. will follow in 2010. NTT will establish and manage the new landing station in Japan near the Tokyo metro area. “The Trans-Pacific Express cable network will increase data and voice reliability, and it will enhance diversity and resiliency to AT&T customers,” said John Stankey, AT&T group president of telecom operations.
IPanel, a provider of embedded software platforms, announced an integration and marketing agreement with ICTV to expand ActiveVideo availability in China and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. The company said ActiveVideo brings the choice and control of the Web to the TV via cable and IPTV networks without requiring the use of set-top boxes. The companies will work together to use iPanel’s middleware and browser for ActiveVideo interactive streaming media, they said. ActiveVideo has been in trials or deployments in North America, Europe and Asia, iPanel said.
Entropic said Jiuzhou Electronics will use its digital tuners in cable set-top boxes in China. The terms weren’t disclosed.
China Mobile added 68.1 million customers in 2007, making 360 million total. The company reported net income of 27.2 billion yuan -- $3.8 billion -- up from 19.9 billion yuan the previous year.
The U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs asked the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” to provide satellite imagery of recent flooding in northern and northeastern Namibia, the U.N. said. The request came from the United Nations Development Program in Namibia and will cover an area 100 km north from the Angolan-Namibian border to the northern shore of Etosha Pan in Namibia, the U.N. said. The European and French Space agencies, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, Indian Space Research Organization and the China National Space Administration are members of the charter. The U.N. space office has activated the charter 48 times since 2003.