Insufficient attention is being paid to reduction of e-waste and to poor practices during design and production of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), the U.N. reported Tuesday. The report cited a need to engage more with the private sector to address businesses' responsibility in EEE production. The U.N. said its activities on e-waste are centered mostly in Africa and Asia, less in Europe and “significantly less” in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Africa and Asia have long been a hub for near-end-of-life and end-of life “legally and illegally imported EEE,” it said. It advised focusing on repair and refurbishment activities, supporting new business models and reducing or eliminating taxes on reuse and repair operations. It pushed supporting member states and "supranational entities" such as the EU in tracking and containing precious and rare-earth metals used in EEE and efforts to identify the link between e-waste and natural resource exploitation. It said the U.N. should help inform member states by expanding national data collection and information-sharing.
Europe's cable ISP industry grew 4 percent to roughly $27.8 billion last year, IHS Markit and Cable Europe said Monday. They said the number of unique cable homes in the EU grew to 65.1 million, or 31 percent of total TV households, by the end of 2016. Internet revenue is 34 percent of Western European cable operator revenue, they said. Germany is the largest single market, with 18.6 million unique cable homes, with the three next-biggest -- the U.K., Poland and Romania -- each having just over 5 million unique subscribers, they said.
The Dec. 7 meeting of the State Department International Telecommunications Advisory Committee will include a report on the outcome of the World Telecommunication Development Conference, an update on preparations for the ITU 2018 Plenipotentiary conference and discussion of preparations for upcoming multilateral meetings at ITU, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, said the agenda. The meeting will be at 10 a.m. at AT&T on the 10th floor of 1120 20th St. NW.
The first of a series of inter-regional ITU workshops in preparation for World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 was held earlier this month, with topics including international regulatory frameworks and frequency allocations for high altitude platforms, railway communications and non-geostationary satellite constellations, the ITU said Thursday. Among attendees were regional groups such as the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, Arab Spectrum Management Group, African Telecommunications Union, European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, Inter-American Telecommunication Commission and Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications, ITU said. Radiocommunication Bureau Director Francois Rancy said 5G development "is putting a lot of pressure on manufacturers and operators to start technology developments and network deployments ahead of WRC-19 decisions," and ITU is working toward early consensus on global harmonization of such bands.
Ericsson is forecasting a billion 5G subscriptions globally for enhanced mobile broadband by 2023, the company reported Tuesday. Having first been deployed in dense urban areas, 5G will cover more than 20 percent of the world’s population by the end of 2023, it said. The first commercial networks based on 5G New Radio are expected to go live in 2019, with “major deployments” from 2020 on, it said. Ericsson foresees the earliest 5G deployments taking place in the U.S., South Korea, Japan and China, it said. Also citing its report, the equipment maker said "mobile data traffic is expected to surge by eight times ... reaching 110 Exabytes per month by 2023. This corresponds to 5.5 million years of HD video streaming. All regions maintain mobile data traffic growth, with North America showing the highest average usage per smartphone, exceeding 7GB per month by the end of 2017." Fourth-generation LTE "momentum continues" and is expected to reach 5.5 billion subscribers by the end of 2023, out of 9.1 million total mobile subscriptions, it added. Also Tuesday, an FCC member spoke of the importance of 5G (see 1711280031).
Blockchain technology has policy implications that "will require close study," the Business Software Alliance Foundation reported Monday. BSA urged world governments to "start considering these issues." Last month (see 1710100061), the State Department held a blockchain forum.
Botswana became the first nation outside the U.S. to OK Globalstar's terrestrial S-band authority and to sign off on it providing terrestrial mobile broadband services over the 2483.5-2500 MHz band, the company said Thursday, announcing Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority approval. It said it filed its application earlier this year and received accelerated review. It said that through its commercial gateway in Botswana the company began providing coverage in 2015 to 14 African nations and surrounding ocean areas for commercial shipping markets. Globalstar said it hoped to get at least some foreign regulatory approvals this year for its terrestrial low-power service plans, and has applications pending in a variety of countries (see 1701300039).
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly hailed interest in formalizing Team Telecom reviews that was expressed by a DOJ official (see 1711080040). He said in the first of three tweets Monday, "@Comm_Daily reported last week from @FCBALaw event that pertinent Admin staff seek & support codified 'Team Telecom,' process. What good news! Maybe Congress can add to [Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] reauth?" "Codifying a streamlined/time-limited but effective 'Team Telecom' review structure can eliminate opaque & dreadfully slow process while still fully protecting national security needs. @FCC should have done this years ago -- it’s time to act now!" " he added. "'Team Telecom' codification of defined and reformed process is a win-win: non problematic transactions can avoid delays & problematic ones can be dealt with easier. Let’s make it happen!" The FCC also has an open rulemaking on revising Team Telecom reviews (see 1608190048 and 1609060068). Spokespersons for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who's spearheading CFIUS reauthorization efforts, and the FCC didn't comment.
State commissions shouldn’t step in to regulate the internet as the FCC pulls away, American Enterprise Institute adjunct scholar Bronwyn Howell blogged Thursday. State-by-state policy on issues like net neutrality would remove an advantage the U.S. has over the EU in setting telecom policy, she said. “Fragmenting regulatory oversight will inevitably mean a fragmenting of the single market that has served the US so well in the mobile age,” Howell said. “Differential regulations across state lines could invoke real costs.”
With content companies often selling worldwide rights to TV shows to Netflix, local broadcasters and video services end up less able to compete with the streaming service, so those content companies "could end up with little alternative to Netflix" for international distribution, nScreenMedia's Colin Dixon blogged Tuesday. He said U.S. studios "are making a big noise" about not licensing content to Netflix in the U.S., but that policy isn't extending to international markets. It's easier to make one deal with Netflix than multiple smaller deals market by market, but local broadcasters will end up less able to compete with Netflix for licenses for U.S. content, the analyst said.