A new congressional caucus opposed to international piracy of intellectual property will “look like a laser beam” at the subject, one of its co-chmn. said at a news conference Tues. House Internet Caucus Co-Chmn. Goodlatte (R-Va.) was joined by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Democrat Biden (Del.), Sen. Smith (R-Ore.) and Rep. Schiff (D-Cal.) in introducing the 59-member caucus. After the conference, Schiff, whose district includes many TV and movie studios and recording labels, told us he was preparing legislation targeting unauthorized file sharing. Piracy “is a big deal,” Biden said, and “the question remains, ‘What are we going to be able to do about what is in essence a theft of American assets?'”
Exports to China
GENEVA -- Telecom officials and regulators struggled at the ITU Telecom World 2003 show here last week with questions of how to extend Internet connectivity to developing and rural areas that didn’t have it, and how to drive demand among users that did. By year end, an average of 80% DSL availability is forecast for Organisation for Economic Development & Cooperation (OECD) countries, OECD Internet Policy Analyst Sam Paltridge said. “The remaining challenge is how do we get broadband to that other 10 to 20 percent,” he said, noting in the last 18 months there had been a surge of wireless ISPs in OECD countries, especially in rural areas.
Telecom Communications (TCom) said it bought Arran Services, a major provider of mobile phone and Internet services for the Chinese market. TCom, with markets in L.A., Mexico and Asian Pacific countries, said it would discontinue its operations in the U.S. and focus on the newly acquired operations. It will change its name to Star East Media Corp., pending a shareholder meeting to be held in 8 weeks. Fred Deng replaced Tak Hiromoto as chmn., although Hiromoto was retained as dir. and pres. Arran, through its subsidiaries StarEastNet and IC China Star East MMS, is one of the first Chinese-language Internet media companies to provide multimedia entertainment and life-style information to the Chinese community, with more than 5 million Chinese users and $12.8 million in total assets.
GENEVA -- Regulators and telecom executives from developing countries told the ITU Telecom World 2003 show here they were seeing more investments from local or regional operators in markets that some large companies had been wary of entering. But several top officials, including Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Pakistan’s Minister of Information Technology & Communications, stressed that they needed an in- flow of R&D funds, not just new infrastructure projects.
GENEVA -- In the opening days of the ITU Telecom World 2003 here, top telecom company executives and regulators urged the industry to pin its recovery hopes on markets in developing countries. ITU Secy.-Gen. Yoshio Utsumi acknowledged the smaller scale of this year’s ITU Telecom World, saying the sector’s recovery was likely to come from lower-income countries. “Although the commoditization of telecommunications has hurt the industry, it has also taken us closer to the utopian idea of universal access,” Utsumi told reporters.
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) contributed $11 million to the European Galileo program, CSA said, allowing Canada to compete for Galileo contracts and otherwise participate in the program. Canada’s ambassador to France, Raymond Chretien, and European Space Agency (ESA) Dir. Gen. Jean- Jacques Dordain also signed an agreement Tues. in Paris concerning the country’s participation, terms unannounced. China also recently joined the program (CD Sept 22 p10). Galileo is Europe’s planned civil satellite navigation and positioning system, scheduled for full deployment in 2008.
Lucent said it signed CDMA mobile network expansion contracts valued at more than $230 million with China Unicom. Under the agreements, Lucent will supply CDMA2000 equipment to China Unicom’s subsidiaries in 6 provinces.
The European Commission (EC) said it signed an agreement with China that would deepen EU-China cooperation in the areas of telecom legislation and standards, e-governance, IT research and industrial policy. The Commission said the agreement aimed at “enhancing mutual understanding of current and forthcoming policy approaches, legislation and related issues.” It said the dialogue would address both horizontal issues and sector-specific industrial policies in annual meetings that would be held in Beijing and Brussels.
China agreed to be a part of Europe’s planned Galileo satellite navigation system, the European Union (EU) said. The draft agreement was signed Wed. by the Secy. Gen. of China’s Ministry of Science & Technology, Shi Dinhuan, and the Dir. Gen. of Energy & Transport at the European Commission (EC), Francois Lamoureux, said the EU. Although the EU didn’t specify whether China would make a financial contribution to the project, the country is opening the China-Europe Global Navigation Satellite System Technology Training & Co-op Centre in Beijing. Approval for the agreement is still needed from China’s State Council, the EU said, as well as from the EU’s Transport Council which will meet Oct. 9 to do so. A final draft of the agreement is expected to be signed Oct. 30.
Despite continued regulatory uncertainty for telecom in China, Moody’s upgraded the senior unsecured debt rating of China Mobile, citing strong growth and a robust credit situation. Moody’s raised the senior unsecured rating to Baa1 from Baa2 with a positive outlook affecting about $1.3 billion of debt. Moody’s said its upgrade reflected China Mobile’s: (1) Strong brand identity and “robust network coverage.” (2) Ability to keep a conservative financial profile. (3) The growth potential of China’s relatively immature wireless market, where cellular penetration is only about 18%. Risks cited for China Mobile by Moody’s included China’s “relatively undeveloped regulatory regime for telecommunications and uncertainty as to the market’s eventual structure,” which it said could hurt China Mobile’s dominant market position over the long-term. Moody’s also highlighted as risks the “uncertainty that prevails over the prospects for the competitive landscape and possibility of overcapacity, given the continued restructuring unfolding in the industry,” with the possibility of additional competition that could pressure China Mobile’s prices and operating expenses. In part, Moody’s said competition for China Mobile will grow as fixed line carriers continue to build out wireless service. “The pace of competition would quicken should China Netcom and China Telecom be awarded 3G licenses and decide to rapidly roll out this technology,” Moody’s said. It said this could lead to industry overcapacity. China Mobile is 75.7% owned by the Chinese govt. and is the country’s largest wireless carrier.