GENEVA -- Telecom and information technology made up more than 20% of patents published in 2006 via WIPO’s international patent filing system, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) said. Semiconductor and information technology patents are multiplying fastest, according to numbers released here Wed.
Exports to China
Ex-NBC Universal Chmn. Bob Wright hopes to keep his role in the content industry fight for intellectual property rights protections, even though he’s leaving his post at NBCU, he said Tues. during a media teleconference. “For the time being, I'll certainly continue,” Wright said: “I'm in it pretty deeply and we'll see where that goes. It’s certainly one [issue] I'll continue to work on.” Wright has been one of the “worldwide leaders” in fighting piracy, MPAA CEO Dan Glickman said at a symposium his group hosted on the topic. Wright appeared by video link to kick off a discussion on the economics of copyright protection.
Federal policymakers are discussing net neutrality in quiet tones and without rhetoric, abandoning the invective prominent when Congress was considering a major telecom bill, Rep. Boucher (D-Va.) told reporters at the Wed. State of the Net conference. Signaling shifts in his own thinking, Boucher said he’s concerned about protecting innovation -- a concern to be balanced against the need to protect startup companies’ ability to have access to “fast lane” services, he said.
Reps. Hunter (R-Cal.) and Everett(R-Ala.) hope to enlist European allies in slowing China’s technological progress, they said in a press conference Wed. at the Capitol. European countries trading heavily with China transfer technologies that “improve Chinese space capabilities while putting American assets at risk,” said Hunter. The U.S. can’t monitor all European business with China, making it a likely source for improvements in Chinese space technology, the 2 said. China’s Jan. 11 demonstration of its ability to destroy orbiting satellites “marks the commencement of a new era of military competition,” said Hunter in a release. Responsible for oversight of the U.S. military, the Committee on Armed Services, on which both men serve, wants to study the adequacy of “all Department of Defense programs intended to preserve America’s space assets,” they said. Hunter and Everett urged President Bush to protect the U.S. satellite system and keep China from being able to make war in space. With American society so dependent on satellites, the risk to a U.S. satellite is cause for great concern, they said. Without satellites, “our military couldn’t do what it does,” said Everett. Hunter hopes the Jan. 11 satellite shoot-down causes the U.S. military to recognize another dimension in defense and “look over the horizon past China,” he said.
Roger Nishi, Waitsfield & Champlain Valley Telecom, becomes OPASTCO chmn… New board members at China Wireless Communications: Iouri Onoufrienko, Onuffer Flooring, and Robert McElhinney, Skywest Airlines… Paul Stodden, ex- Debitel, becomes chmn. of Germany’s Orion Cable… China Telecom names Joseph Shieh, ex-Mega Financial, senior vp- CFO… New at Ascent Media: Jose Royo promoted to CTO; Richard Andrews, ex-Technicolor Creative Services, becomes COO-global media services… Independent Film Channel promotes Kent Rees to vp-mktg… Leon Schweir, ex-Madison Square Garden Networks, becomes Big Ten Network exec. producer & vp-production… Gannett Digital names Abigail Horrigan, ex-FoodFit.com, vp-mktg… Jay Ennis, ex-Network Chemistry, becomes Netcordia vp-engineering… It’s Our Net spokesman Jim McGann to become KPMG communications dir. Feb. 5.
China officially launched its 4G mobile technology, despite lacking a functioning 3G infrastructure, Chinese media reported Mon. A group of companies, agencies and institutions billed the “FuTURE Project” successfully tested 4G Sun. in Shanghai, according to China Daily. The next step will be field tests of the 100 Mbps wireless technology, whose rollout has cost China $19.3 million. Commercial use won’t fully take hold until 2010, the paper said.
Qualcomm’s low share price has “significant upside” given a solid Q4 and improved market share, and the stock represents a “buy,” UBS said. The speed of market share gains in China, Japan, India, Europe and the U.S. are especially impressive, UBS analysts said. But Qualcomm did report lower-than-expected margins and low royalties, they said.
Paying Chinese VoIP subscribers will reach 70 million by 2011 if China eases controls on VoIP termination to the public switched telephone network, said Atlantic-ACM analyst Charlie Reed. His study defined VoIP as any call “either initiating or terminating via VoIP endpoints.” Broadband subscribers are expected to hit 144 million in 2011.
PALO ALTO -- Mobile-security ventures will struggle for financing, despite a boom in risk from the number and capabilities of handheld devices and notebook PCs, investment and technology experts said on a panel here. “We're taking the position that this is going to take awhile” to develop as a market, said Robert McCormack, managing dir.-Mustang Ventures in Shanghai. Carriers, companies or consumers aren’t eager to foot the bills to lock down wireless modalities that are ever-more alluring and vulnerable targets, McCormack and other speakers said at a weekend Silicon Valley-China Wireless Assn. forum. Entrepreneurs and their vendors can expect that as a market does develop, the big vendors from computer security will be there to grab what they can, they said.
GENEVA -- Telecom network and Internet security are now a major priority for the ITU, which needs new sources of revenue to improve developing countries’ telecom infrastructure and to meet global regulatory challenges, officials said. But in his first press conference incoming ITU Secy. Gen. Hamadoun Toure continued to downplay the ITU’s role in Internet governance. “It is not my intention to take over the governance of Internet,” he said: “I don’t think it’s in the mandate of ITU.”