Nextel, still fighting to make certain FCC’s 800 MHz rebanding plan includes giving it spectrum at 1.9 GHz, has offered a new concession, giving up additional spectrum at 800 MHz to be used by public safety. The proposal appears designed in part to give FCC Chmn. Powell additional cover if he sides with Nextel against other wireless carriers, which have made the case Nextel instead should get 2.1 GHz spectrum. Nextel had proposed giving public safety 2.5 MHz and the new plan would essentially double that to 4.5 MHz. Based on Nextel’s numbers, the offer is worth $863 million more than the previous proposal, or $5.155 billion, a spokesman said.
The Journal of Commerce Online reports that on June 1, 2004, the World Trade Organization (WTO) delayed its decision on a request for sanctions against the U.S. in the "Byrd Amendment" case. According to the article, the European Union, Canada, Japan, India, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and South Korea are seeking the right to retaliate against U.S. exports because the U.S. Congress has failed to repeal the Byrd Amendment, which the WTO declared illegal more than a year ago. (JoC Online dated 06/01/04, www.joc.com.)
Pursuant to the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (the Offset Act), the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice of its intent to distribute assessed antidumping (AD) or countervailing (CV) duties for fiscal year (FY) 2004 to affected domestic producers for certain qualifying expenditures they incur after the issuance of an AD or CV order. Written certifications to obtain a continued AD or CV offset under a particular order must be received by August 2, 2004.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) makes available on its Web site a complete list of its informed compliance publications (ICPs), including a pdf file for each publication.
Shippers' Newswire reports that it now looks virtually certain that many ships and ports will fail to comply with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by July 1, 2004, stating that a May 17, 2004 survey of 35 governments by the IMO showed that only 1,902 of their 20,722 ships have received their ISPS ship security certificates, which represents only 9.2%. Regarding ports, the article states that only 301 out of 5,578 port facilities had received port security certificates as of May 17, 2004, which represents only 5.4%. (American Shipper, dated 05/27/04, ShippersNewsWire@americanshipper.com )
RIAA filed 493 more “John Doe” infringement suits against file-sharers Mon., the trade group said. Under an interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that Verizon sued to win, RIAA must file suit against those it suspects of illegal music sharing before establishing their identities. RIAA also sued 24 named defendants, first served through “John Doe” suits, who declined to settle with RIAA. RIAA Pres. Cary Sherman in a statement said he hoped the new suits could be settled, saying RIAA would go the “extra mile and seek to resolve these cases in a fair and reasonable manner.”
RIAA filed 493 more “John Doe” infringement suits against file-sharers Mon., the trade group said. Under an interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that Verizon sued to win, RIAA must file suit against those it suspects of illegal music sharing before establishing their identities. RIAA also sued 24 named defendants, first served through “John Doe” suits, who declined to settle with RIAA. RIAA Pres. Cary Sherman in a statement said he hoped the new suits could be settled, saying RIAA would go the “extra mile and seek to resolve these cases in a fair and reasonable manner.”
The U.K. govt. and its telecom regulator acknowledged Wed. competition in the country’s wholesale broadband market is weak, but said they're working on it. Responding to a Feb. 10 report by the Commons Trade & Industry Select Committee on the state of the market, the Dept. of Trade & Industry (DTI) and the Office of Communications (OFCOM) said they agreed with the panel’s findings. The responses, filed earlier this year, were released Wed. by the committee. To the panel’s concern that alternatives to British Telecom’s (BT’s) existing ADSL network won’t be widely available any time soon, DTI said cable companies’ investment in broadband- enabling networks is increasing. Moreover, it said, govt. policy provides “significant incentives” for 3G service rollouts by requiring mobile phone network operators to provide service to 80% of the population by 2007. OFCOM said one of its key objectives is to promote “the often substantial investment” needed for continued broadband deployment and upgrading infrastructure. The regulator will take appropriate actions to “create an environment where making these significant and risky investments can be appropriately rewarded,” it said. OFCOM is in the midst of a wholesale broadband access market review and will study the impact of next-generation telecoms networks, it said. The report questioned whether the govt. should invest more money in commercial broadband rollout rather than leaving it to market forces. DTI said Regional Development Agencies and Regional Aggregation Bodies will be key to bringing broadband to marginal communities by aggregating demand across the public sector. To the panel’s concern that further rollout will at some point be dependent on public sector bodies’ bringing “something to the table” -- causing BT to slow deployment to take advantage of public subsidies -- DTI said “this does not seem to be the case in practice.” Rather, it said, BT’s establishment of a trigger level program “has been remarkably effective” in increasing deployment. The committee report asked whether the market could deliver improvement in broadband speed. DTI said it expects to see next-generation services launched first in high-density urban areas, but the govt. “would not wish to down play the importance of lower-speed entry level products as a means of encouraging people to migrate from narrow band dial up Internet access to broadband.” In its response, OFCOM stressed it’s already doing several industry reviews in addition to the one on the wholesale broadband access market. But it agreed with the committee “that the time is right for a more fundamental review of the regulatory regime.” The committee report recommended that BT’s wholesale and retail arms not be split. DTI agreed, but OFCOM said it’s trying to determine the structure of the future regulatory framework, part of which is the way BT is regulated. DTI and OFCOM agreed it’s too early to consider a universal service obligation for broadband. The committee is satisfied with the responses, a spokesman told us, but may monitor the govt. and OFCOM to ensure they follow through. “It’s early days at OFCOM,” the spokesman said (the regulator took over from its 5 predecessors late last year). In Oct., the panel will take a look at the regulator’s telecom work, he said.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) found that direct-view color TVs imported from China “materially injured” the U.S. set manufacturing industry, setting the stage for duties ranging 4-24%. The 5-0 vote Fri., which sends the case back to the Commerce Dept. for final action May 26, surprised some observers, who had expected Comr. Stephen Koplan to vote against imposing the duties. Chmn. Deanna Okun abstained.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has published in the Federal Register the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) binational panel's decision, issued April 19, 2004, in its review of the final results of the affirmative antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) threat of injury re-determination on remand made by the International Trade Commission (ITC) with respect to certain softwood lumber products from Canada (Secretariat File No. USA-CDA-2002-1904-07).