Officials from Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and the U.S. met in Paris on June 2, and reiterated their commitment to a “high-standard, ambitious” Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) to eliminate tariffs on a wide range of environmental goods before the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, in September, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement (here). The officials pledged to find common ground on the World Trade Organization-sponsored agreement in order to boost global trade of environmental goods, thereby improving environmental protection, promoting economic growth and creating green jobs, and they encouraged other WTO members “with a similar level of ambition and interest” to join. There have been 13 EGA negotiating rounds so far.
Inmarsat wants to add a new earth station terminal type, Atom 99, to its Global Xpress Ka-band land blanket earth station license, and to add the Inmarsat-5 F3 satellite as a point of communication to all the Global Xpress terminals covered by the license as well as to the Atom 99 terminal. The Atom 99, made by Skyware Technologies, will operate on the same frequencies as the currently licensed Global Xpress terminals -- 19.7-20.2 GHz for downlinks and 29.5-30.0 GHz for uplinks, Inmarsat said in an FCC International Bureau filing Friday. It said the modification to add Inmarsat-5 F3 would let the company expand its Ka-band land service to provide coverage in the U.S. and U.S. territories not covered by Inmarsat-5 F2.
CBP released a fact sheet on the recently increased de minimis value threshold (here). Effective since March 10 (see 1603100010), CBP increased the de minimis limit from $200 to $800. "All existing processes and restrictions for merchandise shipments remain the same" as before the value increased, CBP said. "Even in the case of low value shipment, CBP has the right to require a formal entry on any shipment where additional information, bonding, or protection is required," it said. There's been some concern as to how the de minimis increase will affect work for brokers and importers (see 1605160030).
A method for fashioning quantum-dot LCD displays for wider-color-gamut TVs but without the imprecision of using color filter films for the quantum-dot components is described in a U.S. patent that Vizio landed Tuesday at the Patent and Trademark Office. The patent (9,356,204) is based on a December 2013 application and lists Vizio Chief Technology Officer Matthew McRae as the lone inventor.
A joint Microsoft/Facebook fiber submarine cable linking Virginia Beach, Virginia, to Bilbao, Spain, will be one the highest-capacity subsea cables ever and is expected to be laid within 17 months, Microsoft said in a blog post Thursday. Some companies with major data needs are increasingly building their own dedicated undersea infrastructure, TeleGeography Vice President-Research Tim Stronge told us Thursday. Facebook "is at a scale where they want to own fiber pairs of their own," simplifying network design rather than having to go through a submarine cable operator, he said.
A joint Microsoft/Facebook fiber submarine cable linking Virginia Beach, Virginia, to Bilbao, Spain, will be one the highest-capacity subsea cables ever and is expected to be laid within 17 months, Microsoft said in a blog post Thursday. Some companies with major data needs are increasingly building their own dedicated undersea infrastructure, TeleGeography Vice President-Research Tim Stronge told us Thursday. Facebook "is at a scale where they want to own fiber pairs of their own," simplifying network design rather than having to go through a submarine cable operator, he said.
On May 25 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The FCC approved a Connect America Fund Phase II subsidy auction plan to provide $215 million in annual broadband-oriented support to unsubsidized rural areas traditionally served by larger telcos. At their Wednesday meeting, commissioners voted almost unanimously to adopt an order setting the CAF II auction framework and a Further NPRM to flesh out certain auction specifics, including "weights" for bidders offering different broadband service levels. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissented on the FNPRM, but even he credited his colleagues with making a fiber-oriented draft item more balanced among technologies: "We are still a long way from home, but at least we're back on course for now."
The FCC approved a Connect America Fund Phase II subsidy auction plan to provide $215 million in annual broadband-oriented support to unsubsidized rural areas traditionally served by larger telcos. At their Wednesday meeting, commissioners voted almost unanimously to adopt an order setting the CAF II auction framework and a Further NPRM to flesh out certain auction specifics, including "weights" for bidders offering different broadband service levels. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissented on the FNPRM, but even he credited his colleagues with making a fiber-oriented draft item more balanced among technologies: "We are still a long way from home, but at least we're back on course for now."
The FCC should ensure that efforts to streamline international licensing and other authorizations actually accomplish that, said industry parties reacting to an NTIA letter suggesting commission process changes to facilitate executive branch reviews (see 1605120035). Parties voiced concern that the administration's proposal for the FCC to require certain applicants to provide more information upfront is overly broad and could add to industry burdens. They said the FCC should issue an NPRM that proposes specific time frames and other steps to streamline its international reviews, which are coordinated with the executive branch's "Team Telecom" on national security, law enforcement and other issues. Comments on an FCC public notice teeing up the NTIA letter were posted in docket 16-155 Monday and Tuesday.