Weida Communications said it received 3 new contracts to provide satellite communications systems for electric power utilities in China. The contracts total $250,000, Weida said.
Exports to China
ASPEN, Colo. -- Net neutrality is fundamental for the cable industry, but NCTA Pres. Kyle McSlarrow said he’s leery of any doctrine that enshrines guidelines to help competitors enter video delivery. Without naming names at the Progress & Freedom Foundation’s (PFF) annual policy summit here, he wagged a finger at “industries that ought to know better and thrive in the regulatory environment [who] are the first to try to put rules of road down for other people.” The Bells had decided not to enter video but now some companies are “playing catch-up and want to change all the rules,” he said.
Thailand’s iPSTAR was successfully launched by Arianespace Thurs. with a payload devoted exclusively to broadband delivery for the Asia-Pacific region. Three- month-old WildBlue is no longer the new kid on the satellite broadband block, and all eyes are now on iPSTAR to see how satellite broadband fares internationally.
The FCC should provide incentives and reward “good behavior” to encourage efficient spectrum use, speakers said Thurs. at a Technological Advisory Council meeting in Washington. “There is a lot of potential to make a far better use of the spectrum and enable a lot more applications and innovation,” said Vanu Inc.’s Vanu Bose.
By 2011, a billion more people will have access to telecommunications, due mainly to wireless industry expansion, said Ambassador David Gross, State Dept. international communications and information policy coordinator, at the Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) conference. The rapid spread of wireless communications has had “significant political and cultural effects, and not just here,” Gross said. Internationally, the wireless boom has lent momentum to regions once decades behind the U.S. technologically, he said. Today more than 100 countries offer WiFi, with some 65,000 hot spots. To facilitate growth, it’s important to “promote competition and prevent excess regulation in other countries,” said Gross.
The U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., upheld civil contempt findings against 4 reporters for refusing to answer questions regarding confidential sources for stories about former nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. After a federal case against Lee, once suspected of spying for China, collapsed, he sued U.S. agencies for improperly disclosing personal information about him to the media. The federal court didn’t abuse its discretion in finding journalists - - Robert Drogin, L.A. Times, James Risen, N.Y. Times, Josef Hebert, AP, and Pierre Thomas, formerly CNN and now at ABC News -- in contempt for refusing to answer questions about their sources, the 3 appeals judges said. But the court found “insufficient” evidence to hold N.Y Times reporter Jeff Gerth in contempt, reversing the lower court’s order against him. The ruling comes a day after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by 2 reporters accused of contempt for refusing to name a source that leaked a CIA agent’s identity to them (CD June 28 p9).
RFID growth demands govt. and industry cooperation, a Commerce Dept. (DoC) official said Tues. “RFID in the U.S. and around the world is poised for significant growth in business, consumer applications and in government,” DoC Acting Deputy Secy. David Sampson said at an RFID conference sponsored by the National Chamber Foundation and SAP in Washington. “Our success in advancing innovation will depend on the partnership between the federal government, industry and academia,” he said: “We need… to establish intelligent dialogues on the global potential of RFID, and hopefully avoid some of the misinformation and emotions that discussion of emerging new technologies like RFID can sometimes generate.” The govt. increasingly sees RFID as “a technology that promises to keep America more competitive and innovative in the world economy,” Sampson said. Citing industry sources, he said the RFID market for consulting, implementation and managed services could be $2-$4.2 billion by 2008. That year will see as much as 30% of capital goods carry RFID tags, he said. The Defense Dept., which has extensive supply chains, leads the govt. in RFID adoption, Sampson said. “RFID applications are also being tested in other parts of government for logistics support and for public safety and security,” he said. DoC, for example, has an RFID working group working with several of its offices to “better understand the technology, its deployment in the business sector and the policy challenges associated with an emerging technology application,” he said. DoC recently issued an RFID paper, Radio Frequency Identification: Opportunities and Challenges in Implementation (CD May 12 p7). Commerce will continue to push RFID innovation, Sampson said, but “there are challenges, as is common with any emerging technology.” They include harmonization of standards and interoperability issues across different RFID systems, companies and countries, as well as privacy and security concerns, he said. “We are working with industry on the development of practical and market-driven technical standards to allow greater interoperability,” Sampson said, stressing “market-driven.” “We must also implement smart privacy and security policies that can sustain innovation built around RFID technology and provide consumers with the information and tools they need to protect themselves,” he said: “All these challenges must be overcome for RFID to achieve its full potential.” Sampson stressed common standards as “key to making possible the wide-spread deployment of technology and all its associated benefits.” As more economies with unique standards enter the global market, “the need for harmonized standards becomes more acute,” Sampson said, citing China as an example. “We need to educate our trading partners that multiple standards create huge costs and great burdens for product and technology development as well as world trade,” he said.
China will sign 7 contracts with the European Union to participate in the Galileo satellite navigation system, Chinese news reports said last Fri. The 7 projects, in space and on the ground, will be contracted to Chinese companies and organizations by the end of July, reports said.
PanAmSat said it expanded its agreement with China Central TV (CCTV) to distribute CCTV programming to Western Africa. CCTV is the national broadcaster of the People’s Republic of China. The new agreement is for Ku- band capacity on the PAS 1R satellite. Terms weren’t disclosed.
Ukraine’s participation in Galileo, Europe’s satellite radionavigation program, was approved June 3 by the European Commission (EC). The agreement -- initialed in Kiev by Francois Lamoureux, dir. gen.-energy & transport at the European Commission, and by Oleh Samshul, Ukraine’s deputy minister of foreign affairs -- formally makes Ukraine part of the Galileo undertaking, Europe’s version of GPS. In a statement, the EC said Ukraine will cooperate on Galileo “in a wide range of sectors, particularly in science and technology, industrial manufacturing, service and market development, as well as standardization, frequency and certification.” The agreement also brings the extension of EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) closer in Ukraine, the statement said. Ukraine is the 3rd non-EC country, after China and Israel, formally joining Galileo. EC officials said discussions are underway with India, Morocco, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, S. Korea, Canada, Argentina and Australia.