[governance] ITU In “Urgent” Meeting On Global Spectrum As New Devices Gobble It Up
Riaz K Tayob
riaz.tayob at gmail.com
Tue Jan 24 03:50:37 EST 2012
ITU In “Urgent” Meeting On Global Spectrum As New Devices Gobble It Up
Published on 23 January 2012 @ 10:49 pm
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By William New <http://www.ip-watch.org/author/william/>, Intellectual
Property Watch
A high-level, highly technical UN meeting that occurs about once every
four years at which key decisions are made about wireless communications
opened today in Geneva. The meeting comes as devices such as smart
phones and tablets are devouring many times more spectrum than mobile
phones of the past.
The UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World
Radiocommunication Conference runs from 23 January to 17 February
<http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/index.asp?category=conferences&rlink=wrc-12&lang=en>
and involves top-level officials in telecommunications policy from
around the world. Some 3,000 participants are expected, representing
more than 150 of the ITU’s 193 members, according to organisers.
The conference will review and revise the Radio Regulations, the
international treaty governing the use of radio-frequency spectrum and
satellite orbits, according to the ITU.
A top priority for the United States delegation will be to set the forum
for debate between now and the next WRC meeting in 2015, to have a
negotiation on how to allocate more spectrum for mobile networks, US
delegation head Amb. Decker Anstrom told a press briefing today.
“This is a pressing need for the United States,” he said. Allocation
will affect broadband wireless internet services, officials said.
Innovative solutions to maximise spectrum use are being sought.
US Federal Communications Commission Chairman noted that when the last
WRC meeting was held four years ago, the first Apple iPhone had just
been introduced, and there were no smart phones nor tablets (like the
iPad). Smart phone growth is so fast that last year there were 500
million and this year one billion worldwide, with as many as 5 billion
expected by 2015.
This respresents an “extraordinary opportunity” for advancing commerce,
education, safety and other social benefits, he said. But smart phones
place far more demand on spectrum.
A smart phone uses 24 times more spectrum than the predecessor feature
phones, and a tablet uses 120 times more spectrum, he said. Without
taking action to find more spectrum for these devices, “we risk losing
out on extraordinary commercial and social opportunities,” he said.
This month, the US will push for other countries not to exclude spectrum
bands from studies to be conducted between now and 2015 on their
possible use for mobile networks. Some countries such as Russia are
suggesting that certain bands be kept out of the discussion, officials said.
“Fuelled by rapid technological developments in information and
communication technologies (ICTs) along with the increasing convergence
of radiocommunication services in today’s communication devices, there
is an urgent need to ensure the best efficiencies in the use of
spectrum, a finite resource,” the ITU said in a release. “WRC-12 will
examine the technical, regulatory and operational aspects to address
allocation and frequency sharing to ensure high quality of
radiocommunication services for maritime and aeronautical transport as
well as for scientific purposes related to the environment, meteorology
and climatology, disaster prediction, mitigation and relief.”
The meeting is not expected to directly involve intellectual property
rights, such as online content or anti-piracy efforts, according to
officials, but related issues can arise, including bilaterally. The
meeting also will not directly involve this year’s critical transition
of the global internet to IPv6 from the earlier IPv4, which is running
out of space.
“The World Radiocommunication will review and modify global spectrum
regulations to ensure that this most precious resource is used
effectively to benefit all players,” ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun
Touré said in a release. “The aim is to ensure reliable radio services
are available everywhere and at any time enabling people to live and
travel safely while enjoying high performance radiocommunications.”
The appointed chair of the meeting is Tarek Al Awadhi of the United Arab
Emirates. The six vice-chairs are from Algeria, Armenia, France, New
Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.
Lawrence Strickling, assistant secretary of Commerce for Communications
and Information and administrator of the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA), which oversees US relations with the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), declined to
comment on a question from /Intellectual Property Watch/ about the
performance so far of the newly launched generic top-level domain
programme (/IPW/, Information and Communications
Technology/Broadcasting, 11 January 2012
<http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/01/11/icann-announces-new-tld-program-start/>).
Related Articles:
* Lines Of Global Enforcement Debate Surface at WIPO Meeting
<http://www.ip-watch.org/2011/12/05/lines-of-global-enforcement-debate-surface-at-wipo-meeting/>
* An Urgent Letter From Intellectual Property Watch
<http://www.ip-watch.org/2011/06/15/an-urgent-letter-from-intellectual-property-watch/>
* Amid Global Effort To Fill Internet Policy Gaps, India Proposes New
UN Body
<http://www.ip-watch.org/2011/11/02/among-global-efforts-to-fill-internet-policy-gaps-india-proposes-new-un-body/>
/William New may be reached at wnew at ip-watch.ch <mailto:wnew at ip-watch.ch>./
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<http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/category/access-to-knowledge/>,
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<http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/category/copyright-policy/>, English
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Communications Technology/ Broadcasting
<http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/category/information-and-communications-technology/>,
Patent Policy <http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/category/patent-policy/>,
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