This is an awesome article Riaz as it shows the challenges that lie in the future with regards to forecasted bandwidth consumption and the subsequent impact on spectrum. The challenges with connectivity that the I Phone users experienced in New York some time ago reflect the reality of these challenges.<div>
<br></div><div>One of the trends that we see vendors morphing into is the creation of products that consume less spectrum. I was at the Communicasia in 2010 and this was one of the discussions that Vendors were having etc. The flood of products and apps will cause a huge strain on the spectrum and affect consumption patterns etc aside from IP address issues etc.</div>
<div><br></div><div>This in itself has implications on the nature of governance discussions. I am sure the ITU Meeting to discuss this will no doubt be interesting and exciting.</div><div><br></div><div>The strain in itself and future forecasted bandwidth consumption will force an evolution in increasing backbone infrastructure and the entire information infrastructure as we know it.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Proper planning and forecasting now will help alleviate potential congestion issues.</div><div><br></div><div>Sala<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jan 24, 2012 at 9:50 PM, Riaz K Tayob <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:riaz.tayob@gmail.com">riaz.tayob@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<h2> ITU In “Urgent” Meeting On Global Spectrum As
New Devices Gobble It Up </h2>
<small>Published on 23 January 2012 @ 10:49 pm</small>
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<p>By <a href="http://www.ip-watch.org/author/william/" title="Posts by William New" rel="author" target="_blank">William New</a>,
Intellectual Property Watch</p>
<div>
<p>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. <span></span></p>
<p>The UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World
Radiocommunication Conference runs <a href="http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/index.asp?category=conferences&rlink=wrc-12&lang=en" target="_blank">from
23 January to 17 February</a> 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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>“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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>“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.” </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 <em>Intellectual Property Watch</em> about the performance
so far of the newly launched generic top-level domain programme
(<a href="http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/01/11/icann-announces-new-tld-program-start/" target="_blank"><em>IPW</em>,
Information and Communications Technology/Broadcasting, 11
January 2012</a>). </p>
<div>
<h3>Related Articles:</h3>
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<li><a href="http://www.ip-watch.org/2011/11/02/among-global-efforts-to-fill-internet-policy-gaps-india-proposes-new-un-body/" rel="bookmark" title="Amid Global Effort To Fill Internet
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</div>
</div>
<div>
<p><em>William New may be reached at <a href="mailto:wnew@ip-watch.ch" target="_blank">wnew@ip-watch.ch</a>.</em></p>
</div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div>Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala</div><div><br></div><div>Tweeter: @SalanietaT</div><div>Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro</div><div>Cell: +679 998 2851</div>
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