Motorola, attempting to find “middle ground” in the battle between high-tech companies and broadcasters over the broadcast white spaces, gave the FCC a white paper arguing that the agency should set separate rules for high-power and low-power devices to operate in the band. Motorola also plans to submit a device to the FCC for testing when the Office of Engineering and Technology starts a new round of testing in coming weeks, it said.
Motorola, attempting to find “middle ground” in the battle between high-tech companies and broadcasters over the broadcast white spaces, gave the FCC a white paper arguing that the agency should set separate rules for high-power and low-power devices to operate in the band. Motorola also plans to submit a device to the FCC for testing when the Office of Engineering and Technology starts a new round of testing in coming weeks, it said.
Motorola, attempting to find “middle ground” in the battle between high-tech companies and broadcasters over the broadcast white spaces, gave the FCC a white paper arguing that the agency should set separate rules for high-power and low-power devices to operate in the band. Motorola also plans to submit a device to the FCC for testing when the Office of Engineering and Technology starts a new round of testing in coming weeks, it said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a summary of changes to the Automated Export System Trade Interface Requirements (AESTIR) to its Web site, indicating that Version 1.0 was changed on October 10, 2007 as follows:
A proposal for cellphone use and other mobile communication on aircraft was set out Thursday by U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom, in cooperation with other European Union members. If approved, the measures for cellphone use on flights would be at the discretion of U.K.-registered airlines -- and would cover all European airspace, Ofcom said. Its proposed system includes an on- board base station that connects to passengers’ own mobile handsets. Both of these must be switched off during take- off and landing to eliminate interference with other terrestrial mobile networks, Ofcom said. But once the aircraft reaches a minimum altitude of 10,000 feet, the system may be switched on by the cabin crew. Mobile handsets then will be able to use the aircraft’s base station to make and receive calls. Those will be routed via a satellite link to a ground-based network. Calls will be billed through passengers’ normal service providers, Ofcom said. At first, the service will be limited to GSM-2 devices for data, voice and text services. If successful, it could be extended to 3G and future mobile telephony standards, Ofcom said. The earliest that services could be available from U.K. registered airlines is 2008, subject to approval by the aviation authorities.
The European Commission (EC) cited Bulgaria for failure to make EU emergency number 112 available, launching the first round of a proceeding that could land the government in the European Court of Justice. EU e-communications regulations require member countries to ensure that emergency services can be reached free of charge and that operators give emergency authorities caller location for calls to 112 from fixed and mobile phones, the EC said Wednesday. The move against Bulgaria was unusual in this round of infringement proceedings. Countries’ increasing compliance with the regulatory framework has led the EC to drop several pending cases. Information Society & Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said she would continue to monitor the situation closely. She said such monitoring includes keeping a “very watchful eye” on Bulgaria and Romania to make sure they fully comply with the rules.
Blame for poor cybersecurity skipped the logical target, the top Department of Homeland Security cyber official, landing instead on a self-regulatory body, at a Wednesday House Homeland Cybersecurity Subcommittee hearing on control systems. Assistant Secretary of Cybersecurity and Telecom Greg Garcia, faulted for missing the previous cybersecurity hearing by Chairman William Langevin, D-R.I. (WID April 20 p1), got off with a light scolding by lawmakers. But Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said Garcia seemed to palm off his shop’s responsibility for oversight to a fellow agency. Ranking Member Michael McCaul, R-Tex., took the lead in crediting DHS and others with finding security gaps before terrorists and hostile states did.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated notices of apparent liability proposing $3.5 million in fines against 14 retailers accused of violating the commission’s May 25 analog-only labeling order, Martin told a House Telecom Subcommittee DTV oversight hearing Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Commission released notices proposing fines totaling $96,000 against six retailers for violating the labeling order (CED Oct 17 p6).
The following have been added to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Web site:
“It is tougher now than ever” for the FCC “to do anything useful,” John Mattingly, president of satellite services for Mobile Satellite Ventures, told a Tuesday Washington Space Business Roundtable luncheon. “The FCC is a very hard place to get anything done and that is not good for business,” he said. Regulations are easier to rewrite than laws, and the resulting inconsistencies bother him, Mattingly said: “Policy is not law. It is regulation. You can change your mind.” Space industry work lacks the cachet it once had, he said in response to a query on the satellite industry’s workforce. “I was clearly a kid of the Space Age,” Mattingly said. “That is not the way our kids are being raised. They are more focused on gadgets.” Satellites augment but don’t replace land-based networks, Mattingly said. “We are a niche player,” he added, noting that as such, satellite capacity needs to be generic so it can be able to easily adapt to changing circumstances. “It is rare that the applications that you build and launch on a satellite are the applications that you need at the end of the satellite’s life,” he said. Globalstar’s recent S-band radiation problems (CD Feb 9 p13) could doom that carrier, he implied. “The phone calls that MSV has received, and we don’t even have a handheld service, indicate Globalstar is a sitting duck to an aggressive competitor,” he said.