In what amounted to a proverbial public flogging of the entertainment industry, representatives of various parent groups Wed. called on the federal govt. to impose mandatory labeling requirements on makers of movies, TV shows, music and videogames. The verbal ruckus came in an FTC workshop titled, “Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children.”
Silicon Labs introduced what it described as the first 100% CMOS Satellite Radio Tuner. It said the Si2210 was the first RF/IF tuner operating completely on a complementary metal oxide semiconductor power source, reducing board space 60% and component count 70%.
The FCC is giving serious consideration to imposing a mandatory deadline date on the marketing of DTV sets and other CE devices compliant with broadcast flag copy protection rules, but it hasn’t reached a consensus on what that date should be, sources at the Commission told us.
GENEVA -- ITU Telecom World 2003 last week lacked the bustle of 4 years ago, but one factor that was unchanged at what has been called the Superbowl of telecom exhibits was a focus on 3G wireless technology, with Wi-Fi systems and voice-over-IP systems added to the mix. While heavyweights such as Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia stayed away, Asian players such as LG Technologies, Panasonic and Samsung filled the gap, as did lesser known companies such as Azerbaijan telecom venture AzEuroTel.
GENEVA -- Wireless operators at the ITU Telecom World 2003 show here said fast-growing Wi-Fi systems were complementary to coming 3G offerings, but several were skeptical of the business model for doing 802.11. Qualcomm Chmn.-CEO Irwin Jacobs said his company had tested the possibility of putting 802.11 capabilities on a CDMA chip a year and a half ago. “We haven’t put it on a chip yet because we are looking for what is the right business case, is there a demand,” Jacobs said Wed. But he said he expected the next versions of advanced CDMA 1x chip sets that also had GSM and General Packet Radio Service would carry 802.11 capabilities as well.
Nortel Pres.-CEO Frank Dunn called on regulators to move away “very quickly” from legacy rules that focused on individual networks that delivered a single service and focus instead on “multiservice” converged networks. He said one challenge for regulators was that restrictions they might place on domestic operators could be overridden by providers outside their borders using IP networks. He cited the example of a U.K. company that offered voice telephony to a cable modem subscriber in another country. As networks converge to all IP, voice and data services are driven to the same network, he said: “We need a smarter, more adaptive, more intuitive network. One network that could handle any access device, from anywhere, at anytime,” Dunn said in a keynote speech here. That means boundaries between wireline and wireless networks and public and private networks have to be eliminated, he said. The “multiservice, unified network will have a multiservice edge on it” with a broadband base, he said. “Here’s why the regulators around the world need to change very quickly,” he said. “As we deploy broadband access -- be it a cable modem, be it a DSL -- the good news for the service providers is they have given significant value to their customers and they can charge for that. These networks have unbundled for the first time where the money flows and who provides the service and who puts in the infrastructure,” Dunn said. In the past, “the service was embedded in the network” when a company built a circuit- switched network for voice traffic, he said. In that vein, service providers who wanted to provide data previously constructed dedicated networks, he said. Today, whoever has an infrastructure will compete against similar providers for business, Dunn said, which he said turns many existing regulatory models on their head. That means competitors have to move away from focusing on networks to “connectivity/services” models for data, he said. For regulators, that upends regimes where rules apply to a voice business and separate regulations apply to data, he said. “Some service providers would like to offer these [converged] services today,” Dunn said. “I know the capability exists. I have seen it. People have deployed it in networks. But they can’t offer it because if they offer voice and data together they are going to get regulated as a voice solution,” Dunn said. Unless regulators make changes, 3rd party players outside of a country’s geographic boundaries could offer those services beyond the reach of domestic rules “and basically take these businesses over,” he said. Regulations need to shift in an “environment where we have unbundled infrastructure to build services,” he said. “It’s a very scary environment.” -- MG
Promotions to vp at NBC Agency, which handles on-air promos: Art Lopez, media planning & production; Brad Gensurowsky, on-air graphic design; Bill Hartnett, east coast… Changes at ArrayComm: Ray Ostby, ex-KBC Pharma, becomes CFO; Marc Goldburg promoted to chief technology officer; Alan Norman, ex-Network Services, named vp-business development & mktg.; Wei Yuan advanced to senior vp-business strategy; Raymond Leong promoted to vp-iBurst ASIC business… J.L. Laws, ex-Environment & Energy Publishing, named Communications Daily assoc. editor, covering broadcasting… OmniVision named Brian Hurst, ex-National Semiconductor, vp-strategic markets.
Motorola Chmn. Christopher Galvin said it was splitting off its semiconductor business into a publicly traded company to increase its focus on communications and integrated electronics systems. He said it hadn’t finalized details of the deal. Motorola said it was considering an IPO of part of its semiconductor products sector, to be followed by a distribution of remaining shares to stockholders in “a tax- free manner.” That would be subject to Motorola board approval, “favorable” market conditions and regulatory approvals, it said. Motorola said its remaining portfolio included cellular handsets and related software, cellular network infrastructure, integrated radio communications and solutions for public safety and govt. users, automotive electronics and cable and broadband communications.
The telecom industry was disappointed at the collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Cancun that ended Sun., as “no progress” was made on the services side, including telecom, industry officials said. However, Patricia Paoletta, attorney at Wiley, Rein & Fielding, said the results weren’t surprising as “nobody expected any breakthrough” on the telecom side, with progress on agriculture issues being a “precondition for telecom services [issues] to move” forward.
Faced with the challenge of raising funds to fill an expanded number of channels that come with digital conversion, some of the public TV duopolies are opting to sell their 2nd stations, and national public broadcasting leaders are worried over religious broadcasters’ moving in. “There is definitely a trend toward some sort of restructuring of public television,” Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS) Pres. John Lawson told us. But, he said, the trend that would be “most positive for the country would be some sort of consolidation that results in public television licenses staying in public hands.”