GENEVA -- Hamadoun Toure’s election as ITU’s secy. gen. was a surprise to some, but others saw it as an endorsement by developing countries of the idea that getting connected to telecom and the Internet, rather than concerns about Internet governance, is their overriding concern, officials said.
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
Gilat revenue grew 30% in the 3rd quarter to $63.8 million, vs. a year ago, it said. The firm has seen more business in emerging markets in 2006, officials said, citing Russia, Africa and Latin America. More demand for business continuity schemes in the U.S. also boosted 2006 VSAT sales, Gilat officials said. Net income grew to $2.7 million, compared to a $1.7 million net loss during 2005’s Q3.
The Global VSAT Forum said there’s a worldwide threat to the extended C-band frequencies of 3.4-3.7 GHz, used by satellite operators but increasingly targeted for wireless broadband. The group said the ITU is examining use of the band for advanced wireless services including 4G. “Obviously this band is in use by the satellite services community for FSS services, feeder links and MSS services,” the forum said: “Where WiMAX services have been introduced, there have been significant interference issues and services interruptions for satellite ground stations and their related services… Interruptions have occurred in Bolivia, in the Caribbean, China, Russia, throughout Africa and they have been particularly disruptive in Hong Kong, Australia, Fiji and Indonesia.” The group plans a special meeting Fri. in D.C. at the U. Club to take up the matter.
Comcast, Charter and Cox are among cable firms showing interest in Powerline MU, Motorola’s in-premises BPL product (CD Sept 13 p13), Motorola officials told us. These cable operators have asked for demonstrations of the product able to provide voice and data services to multi-unit buildings over the electrical lines, said Mktg. Mgr. Mary Ashe. Motorola will compete with Telkonet, which already has deployed in hotels and MDUs.
A Moscow Arbitration Court ordered the national regulator to issue a license for providing mobile services in Russia’s Far East to the country’s 2nd-largest operator, VimpelCom. The court upheld a lawsuit that VimpelCom had filed against the Federal Service for Communications, Rossvyaznador, which 35 times turned down VimpelCom’s request for the license. On Aug. 21, the same court is expected to consider a suit that VimpelCom filed against the State Radio Frequency Commission for failure to act on an antitrust ruling and issue the license to a VimpelCom subsidiary in Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District. The antitrust regulator had ordered the commission to cancel its decision that rejected VimpelCom subsidiary’s application for radio frequencies and to reconsider the application. VimpelCom’s main competitors, mobile operators MTS and MegaFon, have licenses to operate in all the regions of the district. MegaFon is the only operator with a license covering all of Russia.
Russia launched a satellite for Israel that Israelis say will be used to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities, AP reported. Reports said the satellite, Eros B, was launched successfully Tues. from Svobodny, Russia. An Israeli military official told the AP the satellite will help Israel gather information on Iran’s nuclear program and long-range missiles, which are capable of striking Israel.
Texas Instruments (TI) reported a 23% year-over-year revenue increase for Q1. 3G mobile handset sales and higher demand for low-end handsets in poor countries were largely responsible, the company said. TI said 3G chip revenue doubled this quarter. A company executive said sales in China, India, Brazil and Russia are surprisingly strong.
A collision with space junk caused the March 29 failure of Russia’s Express AM11 communications satellite, a Russian official said Tues. The satellite, in orbit since 2004 and expected to last until 2012, went into a tailspin after it collided with space garbage, interrupting broadcasts in Russia’s Far East, said Yury Izmailov, gen. dir. of Russian state satellite operator Kosmicheskaya Svyaz. Izmailov said the Express AM11 has is now in disposal orbit. Reports said another Russian telecom satellite, Express 2A, is broadcasting Russian TV in the region. “It’s very rare for geostationary satellites to be hit by debris,” said Futron analyst Chad Frappier, co-author of a recently released Futron report on the subject: “It’s impossible to know what it was -- if it was man-made or a meteorite.” The Futron report said about 9,000 objects classified as space debris larger than 10 cm are being tracked in the earth’s orbit. Such space surveillance duties fall to U.S. Strategic Command, Frappier said. U.S. agencies are paying increasing attention to the threat of space debris, the report said. Whether Russia’s bad luck with Express AM11 will raise more concern in the U.S. is hard to predict, Frappier said: “The 5 or so agencies will probably react slightly differently, but you'd think it would at least bring it to their attention.” The FCC recently revised its debris mitigation requirements and NASA is expected to release new requirements this year. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration and Federal Aviation Administration also have debris mitigation policies.
China is at work on its first “public telecom satellite,” to launch before 2011, said Luo Ge, National Space Administration vice administrator. Speaking via interpreter to U.S. space industry and military officials at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Ge said the govt. will use the spacecraft for education, tele-medicine and emergency communication. A separate telecom satellite -- not marked “public,” but deemed “commercial” by Ge -- will launch in 2006 for mobile telecom, wideband multimedia and DBS audio and video, he said. Satellite TV coverage of China is up to 95%, and a network of 40,000 VSATs now connect scores of rural villages, Ge said. China has several high- resolution imaging satellites and next-generation weather satellites in the launch queue, he said. An earth observation satellite for national purposes will launch in 2008, with 3 meteorological satellites, plus a polar orbiting weather satellite, to launch in the next 5 years, he said. He urged more international cooperation in the space sector, citing projects between China and Russia, France and Thailand, and Pakistan and Brazil. China, Thailand and Pakistan are teaming on a regional Asian Pacific effort on a next-generation launch vehicle; earth observation, telecom and navigation satellites; and space science payloads, he said. China has been marketing its Long March launch vehicles commercially for some time, but the country “still has some distance to catch up with more developed countries,” Ge said: “We always list access to space as a priority. We are working on the new generation launch vehicle.”
The U.S. signed an agreement with the Russian Federation on technology safeguards associated with Sea Launch, Boeing’s commercial launch consortium which includes firms from Russia, Ukraine and Norway. The agreement reinforces bilateral partnership and enhances Russian participation, State Dept. officials said. The agreement will increase services available to commercial clients, the State Dept. said.