REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY CALLED KEY TO BROADBAND INTERNET

“Broadband task force” has been established in Canada to provide govt. with recommendations for improving broadband Internet access, particularly in rural areas, Rawat said, as part of govt. initiative to increase country’s “connectedness.”

U.S. regulatory agencies haven’t helped grow broadband Internet access, said Sharon Nelson, dir. of the U. of Washington School of Law Center for Law, Commerce & Technology. She said 1996 Telecom Act was only moderately successful in its promise to increase competition and offer Internet access to rural markets. It’s unlikely Congress would revise act only 5 years old, Nelson said, but she proposed reforms such as establishing “specialized forums to resolve specialized disputes” within telecom industry. Modeled after self-regulating bodies such as stock exchanges that report to SEC, those “tribunals” could handle issues such as technical standards, privacy and broadband access, Nelson said, with FCC providing oversight. Another solution would be for FCC to provide state regulatory commissions with more tools to resolve disputes, she told us. Govt. should regulate only where monopolies or “bottlenecks” exist, she said. Industry leaders need to be proactive and develop “regulatory strategies,” Nelson said. “Wishing the government would go away isn’t a strategy,” she told us. Privacy issues are critical and telecom industry should consider how it plans to protect consumers from privacy infringement, she said.

“Technopreneurship” replaces entrepreneurship in Asia, as “dot-com fever” takes over, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore CTO Brian Chen said. Asia is witnessing fundamental changes with liberalization of its telecom market, and 6 network operators have emerged in China alone, he said. Singapore’s govt. announced liberalization of its market in April, 2 years ahead of schedule, Chen said. Although region is “bracing for slower growth in 2001,” he said, overall it expects to see continued growth and stability in future. -- Maureen McGee

WCA Notebook…

Ten Latin American MMDS operators representing 5 countries -- Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela -- joined to create Latin American Networking (LaNet) to advance broadband wireless access in region, Alejandro Mayagoitia, LaNet pres. and CEO of Mexico’s Telinor said at Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) convention in San Jose. Alliance can help countries take advantage of new developments in broadband wireless technology, he said. Lack of infrastructure can permit Latin American countries to adopt new technologies at a faster pace than their counterparts in the developed world, he said. Creation of LaNet is critical in light of recent opposition by Canada, Mexico, and other countries to FCC’s consideration of using 2.5 GHz band for 3rd-generation (3G) mobile services instead of 1.7 band preferred by those nations, WCA Pres. Andrew Kreig told us. It would be “impossible to recover” 2.5 GHz band and reallocate MMDS services already assigned to that spectrum, Mayagoitia said. “Regional harmonization is essential,” one official said, and formation of LaNet is “a step in the right direction.” -- MM

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Telecom industry still is at “bottom of the S-curve” and should look forward to future growth, Intel Network Communications Group Chief Technical Officer Jeff Lawrence said Thurs. Customers’ desire for mobility and “next-generation network services” is driving development of broadband, he said. Consumers will continue to gravitate “away from the PC” toward devices with specific functions, such as videophones with broadband Internet connections, Lawrence said. But industry needs to ensure that those devices meet consumer needs such as reliability, security and reasonable cost, he said. Revenue opportunities exist in such countries as Brazil, China, Germany, Japan and Mexico, Lawrence said, but industry will face challenges, such as creating profitable business model, and must be ready to confront regulatory issues.