China will let its phone companies pick their own standard for next-generation mobile phones, though it will continue to develop its own technology, U.S. Commerce Secy. Carlos Gutierrez and U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said in the wake of meetings with the Chinese govt. this week. China promised to “ensure that telecommunications service providers will be allowed to make their own choices as to which standard to adopt, and to issue licenses for all 3G standards in a technologically neutral manner,” a statement from Portman’s office said Thurs.
Exports to China
China Satcom finished installing 1,000 Gilat SkyEdge VSATS for rural telephony in China’s Gansu Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Gilat officials said.
High mobile termination rates, restriction of access and use of leased lines, and universal service problems were 3 main concerns in the 2006 review of telecom trade agreements released by the USTR. Particularly troubling is the emergence of new regulations around the world that are billed as promoting universal service but might limit competition or hinder foreign telecom operators, said U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is starting work on a voluntary Energy Star specification for digital TV converter boxes with a meeting in June or July of those interested. In a “Dear Stakeholder” letter to business, state govts., nonprofits and European and Canadian counterparts, Katherine Osdoba, Energy Star product mgr.- consumer electronics, said the first meeting will be “key” because the agency will begin developing a draft specification. She said the EPA is tracking work on energy limits for DTV adapters (DTAs) in states such as Cal. and N.Y. and in Canada, Australia and China. The agency’s work on converters will “involve some forecasting,” she said, because unlike other Energy Star products, DTV adapters aren’t yet on the market.
China is at work on its first “public telecom satellite,” to launch before 2011, said Luo Ge, National Space Administration vice administrator. Speaking via interpreter to U.S. space industry and military officials at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Ge said the govt. will use the spacecraft for education, tele-medicine and emergency communication. A separate telecom satellite -- not marked “public,” but deemed “commercial” by Ge -- will launch in 2006 for mobile telecom, wideband multimedia and DBS audio and video, he said. Satellite TV coverage of China is up to 95%, and a network of 40,000 VSATs now connect scores of rural villages, Ge said. China has several high- resolution imaging satellites and next-generation weather satellites in the launch queue, he said. An earth observation satellite for national purposes will launch in 2008, with 3 meteorological satellites, plus a polar orbiting weather satellite, to launch in the next 5 years, he said. He urged more international cooperation in the space sector, citing projects between China and Russia, France and Thailand, and Pakistan and Brazil. China, Thailand and Pakistan are teaming on a regional Asian Pacific effort on a next-generation launch vehicle; earth observation, telecom and navigation satellites; and space science payloads, he said. China has been marketing its Long March launch vehicles commercially for some time, but the country “still has some distance to catch up with more developed countries,” Ge said: “We always list access to space as a priority. We are working on the new generation launch vehicle.”
GENEVA -- ITU-T members established an IPTV focus group Wed., with the aim of coordinating a broad range of standards development work into a global standard, officials said. Standards bodies from the existing TV and video markets are creating standards for IPTV, but are focusing on -- and coming from -- their industry perspectives, officials said. What hasn’t been identified is a coordinated framework that says this is how IPTV works, this is the boundary of IPTV and these are the ways IPTV can be coordinated and managed as a service, they said.
Nokia raised its estimate for growth in its world mobile device market to 15% from 10%, it said Thurs. Most growth will be in developing markets in Asia and Africa, it said. The company also announced deployment of 3 new low-cost handsets in the Asia market, to be available in the 2nd half of 2006. Nokia’s China market grew 28% last year to surpass the U.S. as the manufacturer’s largest single market.
Motorola said it opened an R&D center in Hangzhou, which becomes the company’s 17th R&D facility in China.
Parties aren’t asking for a “heavy-handed approach” to network neutrality from Congress or the FCC to protect the integrity of the traffic on the pipes, VON Coalition Exec. Dir. Jim Kohlenberger said at an FCBA program Thurs. But with job growth and productivity increasingly hinging on an expansive broadband market, it makes sense that “we go out and fix the roof before the storm comes.”
Qualcomm announced formation of a mobile software company with China TechFaith Wireless. The venture -- TechFaith Software China Ltd. -- will develop software for wireless devices and be based in Beijing and Hangzhou, China. Each firm will contribute up to $35 million cash. “Qualcomm works closely with numerous industry leaders, and is firmly committed to investing in the Chinese wireless industry as an area of tremendous growth and opportunity to serve global wireless markets,” said Dr. Sanjay Jha, pres. of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies.