The U.S. will restrict export of telecommunications equipment and other technologies “that could contribute to China’s military modernization,” according to updated China Dual-Use Export Regulations announced Friday by the Commerce Department. Blocked are phased array antennae, radio gear using quadrature-amplitude modulation, telecommunications equipment built to operate outside normal temperatures, some avionics production and test equipment and certain airborne communications and inertial navigation systems, the department said. “The Chinese side believes the U.S. side’s insistence on issuing these rules without fully hearing Chines opinions is inappropriate, and violates the cooperative spirit,” China’s Commerce Ministry said on its Web site, adding that such restrictions “will damage the Chinese side’s effort to expand imports from the United States.”
Exports to China
AT4 Wireless will open North America’s first WiMAX Forum certification lab in Virginia this October, WiMAX Forum said Tuesday at the WiMAX Forum Member Conference in Madrid. The lab will be one of five WiMAX Forum test facilities, along with labs in Europe, China, Korea and Taiwan, by year-end. About 30 employees will staff the lab and conduct WiMAX Forum certification testing and radiated performance testing, it said. The lab may be able to support wireless technology convergence such as WiFi or Bluetooth with WiMAX, it said.
GENEVA -- Consensus is emerging in ITU’s focus group on identity management (FG-IdM) for a three-part identity management framework and using an OASIS specification called Extensible Resource Identifier (XMI) for discovery, officials said, but even if it were adopted as a global standard, global buy-in could be elusive.
Global broadband subscribers totaled 298 million as of March 31, Point Topic said. “Given the prevailing growth rates it is safe to assume the number has now passed 300 million,” said Research Dir. Katja Mueller. Passing 60 million in the quarter, U.S. subscribership still leads the world, Point Topic said. China is 2nd at 56 million-plus. France’s numbers climbed fastest with a 9.36% quarterly growth rate, it said.
GENEVA -- Preliminary ITU approval of major updates to 3G radio interfaces for IMT-2000 and a new IEEE 802.16/WiMAX variant radio interface are fueling rivalry to cut operator costs and improve services, performance and data rates for consumers, industry officials said. Opposition from Qualcomm, Ericsson and China countered ITU member states’s strong support during a May 23-31 ITU-R WP-8F (Working Party- 8F) meeting in Kyoto, Japan.
WorldSpace will debut a mobile version of its satellite radio service in the fall starting in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), later expanding to China, India and Europe, Co-COO George Armstrong said at the Cowen & Co. Mid- Cap Technology Conference in N.Y.C. Wed.
Chinese in-stream video ad provider CTS Media got $8 million in 2nd-round funding, led by Disney-affiliated Steamboat Ventures’ $5 million. The company also received infusions from new investor Draper Fisher Jurvetson and returning investor Sequoia Capital China. The money will help CTS bring its technology and services to a “wider range” of Internet video content providers, broadcasters and advertisers, the company said. Steamboat Managing Dir. Benjamin Xu joined the CTS board as a result of his company’s investment.
New ITU board members: Sanjiv Ahuja, Orange; Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani, Qatar Telecom; Mick Buckley, CNBC Europe; Robert Conway, GSM Assn.; Craig Ehrlich, Novare Technologies; Reza Jafari, NeuStar International; Hugo Marias, NEC; Jay Naidoo, S. African Development Bank; Masao Nakamura, NTT DoCoMo; Christian Salbaing, Hutchison European Telecom; Grant Seiffert, Telecom Industry Assn.; Jianzhou Wang, China Mobile… Frederic Salerno, ex-Verizon, named CBS dir… Kevin MacDermott promoted by Time Warner Cable to senior vp-commercial operations… Lewis Sherr, ex-Time Warner, becomes senior vp-mktg. partnerships for MSG Media… Nexstar Bcstg. promoted Tim Dunst to vp-gen. mgr., WJET-TV Erie, Pa… Scott Cohagan, ex-Forever Bcstg., becomes gen. mgr., Salem Radio Group Boston… NBC Universal Exec. Vp-Affiliate Relations John Damiano to retire June 1.
The Internet tax moratorium set to expire in the fall should get a temporary extension so states can figure out the best way to tax access without hurting broadband penetration or needing to increase other taxes, state officials told the House Judiciary Commercial & Administrative Law Subcommittee on Tues. Industry witnesses challenged states’ contention that taxes indirectly affecting Internet access haven’t slowed broadband penetration or widened the digital divide. But when those tax rates vary nationwide, investment in buildout slows, they said.
If European govts. fund Galileo’s infrastructure (CD May 17 p6), maybe private companies could run it, Thomas Enders, CEO of the European Aeronautics Defense & Space Co. (EADS) said Thurs. He spoke to reporters after giving a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The EC moved Wed. to take over the troubled satellite navigation system, proposing to finance it with public money due to failure of an industry consortium to coalesce. EADS belongs to the 8-company consortium. Navigation systems in the U.S., Russia and in China have been or will be financed publicly, said Enders. EADS is interested in Galileo but “the funding must be realistic. It must be secure and it must be manageable,” he said.