Any measurable goals and targets for a development agenda after the 2015 deadline for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) “should explicitly include broadband,” the four leaders of the U.N. Broadband Commission said in an open letter on behalf of the group’s 55 commissioners (http://xrl.us/bos6rh). The group is chaired by telecom magnate Carlos Slim Helu and embattled Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Hamadoun Toure, the ITU secretary-general, and Irina Bokova of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, are the vice-chairs. The deadline for reaching the goals expires in 1,000 days, the letter said. A high-level panel, mandated by a 2010 summit on the MDG, will advise the U.N. secretary-general on the global development framework beyond 2015. Broadband, including mobile broadband, is fundamental for ensuring connectivity at sea and in the air, as well as on land in remote areas, it said. Broadband will also spur emergency and humanitarian communications, distance learning and e-commerce, it said. Broadband enhances remote diagnosis, tracking of symptoms, mapping epidemics and disease outbreaks, it said. Furthermore, broadband promotes increased opportunities for women and girls to participate in economic and social activities, it said. There is a need for a renewed global partnership that enables a transformative, people-centered and planet-sensitive development agenda, the high-level panel advising the U.N. secretary general said following a March 27 meeting (http://xrl.us/bos6r6). The Broadband Commission’s members include Vint Cerf of Google, Julius Genachowksi of the FCC, Neelie Kroes of the European Commission, executives from major telecom and satellite companies, Microsoft, Cisco, Qualcomm, Huawei and others.
The federal government has failed in pioneering U.S. broadband deployment and thus prompts states and cities to lead, Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin told Wisconsin broadband stakeholders Thursday. “As there is no reasonable expectation that the FCC will take any substantial action to change the investment equation in the near-term, states and cities must act to do so,” Levin said, according to his prepared remarks (http://bit.ly/Xs9g1D). The Wisconsin Public Service Commission is hosting a symposium on how to advance broadband adoption and deployment Thursday and Friday of this week in Madison, Wis. The PSC includes its own state broadband director, Tithi Chattopadhyay, who started last fall and has helped lead the PSC’s broadband efforts, which include a broadband playbook (1.usa.gov/XqhZvV) directed toward state legislators and policy officials. The playbook was formally released and presented in late March, although it was initially completed and went through a round of comments last fall. It “is a tool that all stakeholders need to study and explore to identify specific broadband actions and initiatives that can be considered for the state,” said the PSC commissioners in their March letter presenting the 15-page book. The symposium included a keynote from Levin, who helped manage the creation of the National Broadband Plan, and panels with industry and state officials. The National Broadband Plan struggled because “D.C. culture doesn’t lend itself to effective experimentation,” Levin said in his speech. “The Broadband Plan analysis demonstrated that the biggest problem for unserved areas stemmed from the lack of incentives to upgrade the networks in areas dominated by the three largest wireline phone companies.” Levin did credit the success of the $4 billion broadband stimulus program. He questioned the FCC’s USF reform and said the major companies “have indicated the reform package will not catalyze significant network deployments” and pointed to smaller companies that have stalled progress due to the uncertainty the reform created. The shortcomings of the reform “put it in a hole,” he said, noting it misses the impact of 4G and wireless and satellite on rural regions that need more bandwidth. “In sum, while the FCC shifted billions of dollars around, the combination of carrots and sticks created by the FCC actions has resulted in minimal deployments in the most problematic unserved areas identified in the Plan, a slowdown of deployment in other areas, consumers paying more, a failure to anticipate future needs and a punt of a central issue.” He praised local experimentation with broadband networks and noted how aware cities are of competing with one another. “Cities, and not the federal government, are leading in experimenting with new forms of mutual agreements that serve today and tomorrow’s needs,” Levin said, expressing confidence in municipal leadership and implicitly criticizing laws that restrict municipally owned networks: “We should also squarely look at the conflict that occurs when a state curtails a city’s ability to take control of its own bandwidth destiny.” The FCC disputed the characterization: “The Commission’s reform of USF to create the Connect America Fund is expanding broadband to rural Americans who lack access while for the first time putting the Fund on a budget, though we're still in the early innings,” an FCC spokesman said in response to Levin’s speech. “Last July, the Connect America Fund began connecting nearly 400,000 Americans unserved by broadband in 37 states. Last October, the Commission launched the Mobility Fund, providing $300 million to extend advanced mobile wireless service on up to 83,000 unserved road miles in 31 states, reaching areas where millions of Americans live, work, or travel. This October, the new Tribal Mobility Fund will provide $50 million to increase availability of advanced mobile services on Tribal Lands.” The spokesman emphasized broadband plans to come. “The Commission is also on track to launch, later this year, both the second phase of the Connect America Fund, which will distribute up to $1.8 billion a year to deploy broadband to millions of Americans across the country, and the second phase of the Mobility Fund, which will distribute $500 million annually to deploy mobile broadband to unserved areas,” he said. “The FCC has accomplished this entirely through savings from reforms, without increasing the size of the Fund or the cost to consumers and small businesses who pay into it. In fact, thanks to the Commission’s reforms of Lifeline, the overall size of USF -- and the USF contribution factor -- are both shrinking since reforms took effect. The contribution factor has decreased in each of the past two quarters, dropping nearly 15% from its high.” Intercarrier compensation reform will “unleash over $1.5 billion in annual benefits to consumers by eliminating hidden calling costs while removing major barriers to deployments of advanced IP-based broadband networks, such as AT&T’s announcement in November that it would substantially expand its U-Verse footprint,” the spokesman added. “Together, these reforms put the country on track to connect the 19 million Americans who lack service by the end of the decade.”
The federal government has failed in pioneering U.S. broadband deployment and thus prompts states and cities to lead, Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin told Wisconsin broadband stakeholders Thursday. “As there is no reasonable expectation that the FCC will take any substantial action to change the investment equation in the near-term, states and cities must act to do so,” Levin said, according to his prepared remarks (http://bit.ly/Xs9g1D). The Wisconsin Public Service Commission is hosting a symposium on how to advance broadband adoption and deployment Thursday and Friday of this week in Madison, Wis. The PSC employs its own state broadband director, Tithi Chattopadhyay, who started last fall and has helped lead the PSC’s broadband efforts, which include a broadband playbook (1.usa.gov/XqhZvV) directed toward state legislators and policy officials. The playbook was formally released and presented in late March, although it was initially completed and went through a round of comments last fall. It “is a tool that all stakeholders need to study and explore to identify specific broadband actions and initiatives that can be considered for the state,” said the PSC commissioners in their March letter presenting the 15-page book. The symposium included a keynote from Levin, who helped manage the creation of the FCC National Broadband Plan, and panels with industry and state officials. The NBP struggled because “D.C. culture doesn’t lend itself to effective experimentation,” Levin said in his speech. “The Broadband Plan analysis demonstrated that the biggest problem for unserved areas stemmed from the lack of incentives to upgrade the networks in areas dominated by the three largest wireline phone companies.” Levin called the $4 billion U.S. broadband stimulus program a success. He questioned the FCC’s USF reform and said the major companies “have indicated the reform package will not catalyze significant network deployments” and pointed to smaller companies that have stalled progress due to the uncertainty the reform created. The shortcomings of the reform “put it in a hole,” he said, noting it misses the impact of 4G and wireless and satellite on rural regions that need more bandwidth. “In sum, while the FCC shifted billions of dollars around, the combination of carrots and sticks created by the FCC actions has resulted in minimal deployments in the most problematic unserved areas identified in the Plan, a slowdown of deployment in other areas, consumers paying more, a failure to anticipate future needs and a punt of a central issue.” He praised local experimentation with broadband networks and noted how aware cities are of competing with one another. “Cities, and not the federal government, are leading in experimenting with new forms of mutual agreements that serve today and tomorrow’s needs,” Levin said. He expressed confidence in municipal leadership and criticized laws that restrict municipally owned networks: “We should also squarely look at the conflict that occurs when a state curtails a city’s ability to take control of its own bandwidth destiny.” The FCC disputed the characterization. “The Commission’s reform of USF to create the Connect America Fund is expanding broadband to rural Americans who lack access while for the first time putting the Fund on a budget, though we're still in the early innings,” spokesman respond to Levin’s speech. “Last July, the Connect America Fund began connecting nearly 400,000 Americans unserved by broadband in 37 states. Last October, the Commission launched the Mobility Fund, providing $300 million to extend advanced mobile wireless service on up to 83,000 unserved road miles in 31 states, reaching areas where millions of Americans live, work, or travel. This October, the new Tribal Mobility Fund will provide $50 million to increase availability of advanced mobile services on Tribal Lands.” Broadband plans are to come, the spokesman said. “The Commission is also on track to launch, later this year, both the second phase of the Connect America Fund, which will distribute up to $1.8 billion a year to deploy broadband to millions of Americans across the country, and the second phase of the Mobility Fund, which will distribute $500 million annually to deploy mobile broadband to unserved areas,” he said by email. “The FCC has accomplished this entirely through savings from reforms, without increasing the size of the Fund or the cost to consumers and small businesses who pay into it. In fact, thanks to the Commission’s reforms of Lifeline, the overall size of USF -- and the USF contribution factor -- are both shrinking since reforms took effect. The contribution factor has decreased in each of the past two quarters, dropping nearly 15 percent from its high.” Intercarrier compensation reform will “unleash over $1.5 billion in annual benefits to consumers by eliminating hidden calling costs while removing major barriers to deployments of advanced IP-based broadband networks, such as AT&T’s announcement in November that it would substantially expand its U-Verse footprint,” the spokesman added. “Together, these reforms put the country on track to connect the 19 million Americans who lack service by the end of the decade.”
Given delays caused by sequestration funding cuts, CBP will reiterate to the ports its commitment to giving priority to C-TPAT shipments designated for examination, it said in an update to its FAQ on sequestration. The agency is currently working with its NAFTA partners to manage the flow of traffic at land border crossings, with the aim of continuing to offer front-of-the-line priority for its trusted partners in the face of the backlog created by reduced staffing, it said. But despite sequestration, CBP said implementation of the CEEs is currently on schedule. The agency also still hopes to complete ACE within its originally scheduled timeframe.
The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners voted Monday to support the city's appeal of the Southern California International Gateway rail yard project that was recently approved by the Port of Los Angeles. The 153-acre facility proposed by BNSF Railway is just outside West Long Beach on land owned by the Port of Los Angeles. The project would serve on-dock rail facilities at both the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles.
Sensio’s recent distribution agreements for Paramount and Disney titles will account for 80 percent of Sensio’s 3DGO! on-demand movie service at the start, Sensio Executive Vice President Richard LaBerge told us. Sensio’s 3DGO! is scheduled to launch this month with about 60 titles, including content from Disney/Pixar and Paramount/DreamWorks as well as Starz and Big Pictures Digital Productions, which has a library of 12 3D IMAX films. Sensio, which developed Hi-Fi 3D Technology, had planned to launch 3DGO! a year ago with the backing of three studios. But beta testing didn’t begin with Sensio and Vizio employees until last fall as the company worked on digital rights management, encoding and other issues, LaBerge said. Sensio also needed to land deals with movie studios that would “trigger” interest from other content providers, LaBerge said. “With the agreements with Paramount and Disney, we have given 3DGO! a jump start and family content is where 3D works well,” LaBerge said. The beta testing started with Vizio smart TVs and Big Pictures titles including Grand Canyon Adventure and Ultimate Wave Tahiti and added Disney/Pixar films Brave and Frankenweenie, in an agreement with the studio, LaBerge said. Vizio will be the first of the smart TV suppliers to add the 3DGO! app, with Hisense and TCL to follow in the second half, LaBerge said. Vizio also is expected to have 3DGO! on its Co-Star Google TV streaming device, LaBerge said. Sensio also has pacts with several chip suppliers for Hi-Fi 3D capable ICs, including Mediatek and Marvell Technologies. “We are in discussions with other TV suppliers and once 3DGO! is online, it’s going to accelerate,” LaBerge said. “Many TV suppliers are shifting to adding third-party apps, but they want us to show them that we can do it.” The titles will be available for a 24-hour streaming period and will likely be priced in the $5.99-$7.99 range, depending on the title and film length, LaBerge said. Customers also will be able to download a film to their libraries and view it over a 30-day period, LaBerge said. The service will feature adaptive bit-rate technology and the recommended speed for streaming will be 6 Mbps, although service can drop down to 4 Mbps, LaBerge said. To support 3DGO, Sensio raised $3.45 million last fall from institutional investors, funding that also will be used for development of its AutoDetect technology, LaBerge said. AutoDetect, which automatically determines a video stream’s input format and processes it in the correct mode, will be used in future versions of Marvell’s chips, LeBerge said. A Marvell spokeswoman declined to comment.
Sensio’s recent distribution agreements for Paramount and Disney titles will account for 80 percent of Sensio’s 3DGO! on-demand movie service at the start, Sensio Executive Vice President Richard LaBerge told us.
LOS ANGELES -- Gary Shapiro has no doubt that Ultra HD “will be very successful,” though not quite “the total killer” that HDTV was, the CEA chief told last week’s ESCA Digital 2013 conference in a keynote to promote his new book, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses.
LOS ANGELES -- Gary Shapiro has no doubt that Ultra HD “will be very successful,” though not quite “the total killer” that HDTV was, the CEA chief told last week’s ESCA Digital 2013 conference in a keynote to promote his new book, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses.
With the addition of new funding for CBP by the recent continuing resolution's budget for the rest of FY 2013, CBP is holding off on furloughs and deauthorization of some overtime for its employees, said an agency spokesman: “In light of the Fiscal Year 2013 Appropriations bill and sequestration impacts, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is re-evaluating previously planned furloughs and de-authorization of Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUO) and will postpone implementation of both at this time."