LONG BEACH, Cal. -- The future of broadband by satellite may not be going it alone in the “last mile” to homes and offices, but serving 3rd World communities, continuing to serve remote places, or converging with terrestrial to support future rural networks, said industry members at a satellite broadband panel at the International Satellite & Communications Conference and Expo here Tues.
The Justice Dept. (DoJ), the FBI and the Homeland Security Dept. urged careful FCC scrutiny of public safety and national security concerns before the Commission modifies or lifts a ban on airborne use of 800 MHz cellular handsets and other wireless devices. In a filing, the agencies listed safeguards they want the FCC to adopt to address law enforcement concerns.
Both terrestrial wireless and airline industries raised concerns over an FCC proposal to replace or relax a ban on airborne use of 800 MHz cellular handsets and other devices. They urged the Commission to keep the ban until the devices are shown not to cause interference with terrestrial wireless services and with aviation communication and navigation systems. More comments were expected at our deadline.
The FCC “must not allow” interference experienced in the 800 MHz band to migrate to the 900 MHz band by opening those frequencies -- traditionally dedicated to private use -- to commercial use without adequate safeguards, the National Rural Electric Coop. Assn. (NRECA) said in a letter. NRECA endorsed earlier comments by the Assn. of American Railroads, American Petroleum Institute, MRFAC, National Assn. of Manufacturers and United Telecom Council (CD May 20 p5). NRECA urged the FCC to consider carefully public safety functions performed by the critical infrastructure entities and to set aside 99 existing Business & Industrial Land Transportation (B/ILT) channels for traditional B/ILT users with continued site-based licensing rights.
The FTC commissioner known for his folksy pragmatism and dedication to information security and consumer privacy matters is calling it quits. Orson Swindle, one of 3 Republican FTC members, said Thurs. he'll leave his post June 30. The frontrunner to succeed Swindle is said to be former FTC Gen. Counsel Bill Kovacic, who left the FTC late last year to resume teaching law at George Washington U., Swindle told Washington Internet Daily: “I'm as pleased as I can be that he'd come in and fill my shoes -- and toss the old things out of the closet too… I hope that’s the way it comes down.” Kovacic declined to comment.
On May 18, 2005, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1817, the "Department of Homeland Security Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006."
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published its semi-annual regulatory agenda, which contains certain U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulatory rulemakings (rulemakings).
The Global Broadband Satellite Initiative (GBSI) will call at Nov.’s 2nd World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) for a common open standard for satellite broadband and for relaxation of satellite landing rights worldwide, among other measures. WSIS, a United Nations-endorsed and ITU-coordinated summit, is convened in 2 phases as an international effort to bridge the digital divide. As part of the WSIS agenda, GBSI wants to encourage development of an international market for satellite broadband services, officials said.
Incumbent providers operating in the 900 MHz band urged the FCC to ensure “sufficient” protection for their systems from harmful interference if the Commission moves forward with a proposal to facilitate the band’s more flexible use. They want the agency to ensure that licensees don’t face interference such as that which required the remedies adopted in the 800 MHz interference proceeding. The incumbents, which are site-specific licensees, generally opposed the geographic market area licensing the FCC proposed. They said it would cause commercial systems to proliferate at the expense of continued licensing of critical infrastructure, industrial and land transportation systems.
Automotive OEM accounts for 70% of Harman International’s annual revenue as the CE manufacturer increasingly lands design wins for its Media Oriented System Transport-based (MOST) infotainment systems combining navigation, voice recognition and other technologies, Exec. Chmn. Sidney Harman told investors at the R.W. Baird & Co. investor conference in San Francisco. The company, which introduced MOST in 2001, has a “solid order” book for the next 3 years including a contract with Chrysler that’s expected to produce $400 million in revenue starting in fiscal 2007,Harman said. The company plans to expand the reach of its JBL OnStage docking station for iPod digital audio players to motor vehicles, he said. Harman International has sold about 500,000 of the OnStage circular speaker devices since introducing them for the iPod last year, he said. The company also will target the emerging category of cellphones capable of playing back and storing digital music files, a segment forecast to sell 450 million units by 2009, Harman said. “It’s no silly leap of the imagination to think that 450 million phones might open a new market for us,” he said.