Yesterday, I had the honor of speaking with Ambassador Richard Russell, who headed the U.S. delegation to Geneve in October and November of 2007 for the World Radio Telecommuncations Conference. Every four years, the U.N. mandates that the members get together and decide where they're going to put "new stuff" and how handle other issues, such as talking to satellites (and robots, although in the interests of security we didn't talk about that. because remember, persons denying the existence of robots may be robots themselves.) and standardizing usage to minimize international interference and maximize compatibility. This results in a binding treaty that, surprisingly, we really do care about honoring.
Ambassador Russell gave me a look inside what went on, and while I don't have any sound bytes or podcasts for you, I hope this will shed some light on why things are the way they are, and what we have in store for the future.
Two major issues came up at the outset, which were
1) where to put the next generation "Wireless Broadband" and what specific technologies would be used.
2) How to protect the new Wi-Max standard from Satellite interference.
First off, I did ask about White Spaces and unlicensed spectrum. He pointed out that at the last WRC in 2003, the U.S. successfully pushed for the 802.11 standard to be adopted for Wi-Fi internationally in an unlicensed band, and that internationally, there is an understanding that unlicensed is an important category.
Next, I asked about FCC Chairman Martin's CTIA remarks (re Skype) and how Ambassador Russell felt in his role as deputy director of OSTP how he felt we as a nation could continue to innovate and create an environment with a diverse marketplace.
He responded that we want to make sure that new technologies "get a shot," and steered us back to the WRC proceedings, where the U.S. took a position in defining what the "IMT" (International Mobile Telecommunications) standard would be in governing what would be considered acceptable for using that term.
With regard to Wi-Max, Germany and China wanted to specifically exclude it, but we were able to roll Wi-Max into the standard, which pushed the WRC to expand the spectrum reserved for IMT to include the 700Mhz band.
This is a big deal. While we're going to have that 700Mhz area available at this time next year, many countries aren't transitioning to DTV so early (Mexico is waiting until 2020). On the other hand, many developing countries are going straight to DTV. This means that 700Mhz won't be encumbered already and it'll be internationally sanctioned (including across the Americas, China, Japan, Singapore and India) for mobile broadband. Europe, on the other hand, is going to reevaluate this in 2015. Big picture? 700Mhz (and Wi-Max) is here to stay for information services.
What did I take away? America is still the leader on many technlogical issues, and if we're on the right track, the world will follow our lead.
Ambassador Russell gave me a look inside what went on, and while I don't have any sound bytes or podcasts for you, I hope this will shed some light on why things are the way they are, and what we have in store for the future.
Two major issues came up at the outset, which were
1) where to put the next generation "Wireless Broadband" and what specific technologies would be used.
2) How to protect the new Wi-Max standard from Satellite interference.
First off, I did ask about White Spaces and unlicensed spectrum. He pointed out that at the last WRC in 2003, the U.S. successfully pushed for the 802.11 standard to be adopted for Wi-Fi internationally in an unlicensed band, and that internationally, there is an understanding that unlicensed is an important category.
Next, I asked about FCC Chairman Martin's CTIA remarks (re Skype) and how Ambassador Russell felt in his role as deputy director of OSTP how he felt we as a nation could continue to innovate and create an environment with a diverse marketplace.
He responded that we want to make sure that new technologies "get a shot," and steered us back to the WRC proceedings, where the U.S. took a position in defining what the "IMT" (International Mobile Telecommunications) standard would be in governing what would be considered acceptable for using that term.
With regard to Wi-Max, Germany and China wanted to specifically exclude it, but we were able to roll Wi-Max into the standard, which pushed the WRC to expand the spectrum reserved for IMT to include the 700Mhz band.
This is a big deal. While we're going to have that 700Mhz area available at this time next year, many countries aren't transitioning to DTV so early (Mexico is waiting until 2020). On the other hand, many developing countries are going straight to DTV. This means that 700Mhz won't be encumbered already and it'll be internationally sanctioned (including across the Americas, China, Japan, Singapore and India) for mobile broadband. Europe, on the other hand, is going to reevaluate this in 2015. Big picture? 700Mhz (and Wi-Max) is here to stay for information services.
What did I take away? America is still the leader on many technlogical issues, and if we're on the right track, the world will follow our lead.
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