[governance] ITU In “Urgent” Meeting On Global Spectrum As New Devices Gobble It Up

[Riaz K Tayob]

    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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