Dept. of Commerce (DoC) announced “Services 2002: A Business-Govt. Dialog on U.S. Trade Expansion Objectives,” to be held Feb. 5. Conference will explore opportunities for increased market access offered by General Agreement on Trade in Services negotiations of World Trade Organization (WTO) since start of new work program at Doha Ministerial Conference last Nov., DoC said. Industry-specific roundtables include: (1) Audio Visual Services, with speakers from AOL Time Warner, MPAA and other groups. (2) Telecom Services and Information Services, featuring panelists form AT&T, WorldCom, others. (3) E-Commerce, with speakers from Oracle, VeriSign, other. Supachai Panitchpakdi, WTO director-gen. designate, will keynote, DoC said. Register before Jan. 31 -- Richard_Boll@ita.doc.gov.
Justice Dept. (DoJ) and FTC officials will meet with Senate staff Wed. to discuss potential delineation of merger review authority between 2 agencies (CD Jan 18 p3). Agreement had been expected to be announced Thurs., but announcement was canceled abruptly. It would give DoJ jurisdiction over media merger reviews, prospect that concerned many consumer advocates. It also concerned Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.), along with secretive nature in which agreement was negotiated, Hollings aide said. By virtue of being chmn. of both Senate Commerce Committee and Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee on Justice, State and Judiciary, Hollings has congressional oversight of both agencies, aide said.
Reported agreement on merger reviews by FTC and Justice Dept. (DoJ) remained uncertain Thurs. and one senior official speculated accord was “dead.” Agencies had scheduled joint news conference Thurs. for “announcement,” but it was canceled with no comment from FTC or DoJ. FTC Comr. Mozelle Thompson attacked agreement in news release issued before conference, saying FTC Chmn. Timothy Muris hadn’t invited other FTC commissioners to review agreement before he executed it. Said spokesman for House Commerce Committee: “Frankly we were a little surprised to learn the Administration was moving forward on this proposal with little if any input from Congress… Obviously, if this is resurrected we would like to put our 2 cents worth in.”
Ultra-wideband (UWB) developer XtremeSpectrum has submitted proposal to FCC that would “seriously limit” UWB emissions below 3.1 GHz, said attorney Mitchell Lazarus. He responded to letter written to NTIA from Asst. Defense Secy. for Command, Control Communications & Intelligence John Stenbit spelling out DoD’s position on UWB (CD Jan 25 p1). Stenbit told Commerce Dept.’s Deputy Asst. Secy. for Communications & Information Michael Gallagher that DoD required that there be no intentional emissions below 4.2 GHz except for imaging systems. DoD proposal to NTIA also includes out-of-band emissions that would meet “stringent standards” previously provided by DoD to NTIA staffers. XtremeSpectrum had told FCC in Sept. that it didn’t object to emissions limits in GPS band supported by GPS Industry Council. These include limits that are 35 dB below certain levels of Part 15 and additional 10 dB suppression of spectral lines as measured with 10 kHz resolution bandwidth. While there are several systems on record at FCC that indicate need for protection below 3.1 GHz, there is “almost nothing in the record showing a need between 3.1 and 4.2 GHz,” Lazarus said. “XtremeSpectrum has offered a 10 dB cut in that band anyway to expedite getting the rules out, although we don’t think it’s necessary. We don’t see any reason to limit emissions below 4.2 GHz any more steeply than by 10 dB.” On concerns over aggregation of UWB signals, Lazarus said company submitted figures to FCC last week that calculated potential aggregation impact of UWB signals. “If you have an ultra-wideband emitter 3 meters away and 100 meters away there are 100,000 ultra-wideband emitters, all at the same power,” Lazarus said the 100,000 UWB emitters will only contribute “1 percent as much interference as the single unit 3 meters away.”
Asst. Defense Secy. for Command, Control, Communications & Intelligence John Stenbit spelled out Pentagon’s ultra- wideband (UWB) position for NTIA Fri., saying DoD required that there be no intentional emissions below 4.2 GHz except for imaging systems. That position, outlined in Stenbit letter to Commerce Dept.’s Deputy Asst. Secy. for Communications & Information Michael Gallagher, doesn’t reflect harder line approach of agencies such as Dept. of Transportation and NASA. Those parts of federal govt., which share DoD concerns about potential of UWB to interfere with GPS-dependent systems, still advocate no intentional emissions “below 6 GHz, period,” industry source said. DoD proposal to bar UWB emissions below 4.2 GHz, with some limited exceptions, is “a long-term position taken to protect vital DoD systems that ensure our national security,” Stenbit said in letter released Mon.: “That position is further justified by recent public reports that such initial rollouts may constitute just the ‘camel’s nose under the tent’ of commercial investment in UWB.” FCC plans to take up UWB item at Feb. 14 meeting.
Commerce Dept. revoked antidumping duty against static random access memory (SRAM) semiconductors from Taiwan. Effective Mon. (Jan. 14), order follows 3-year court battle involving U.S. govt., Taiwan industry group, domestic SRAM industry. Commerce made less than fair value determination against Taiwan SRAM industry in Feb. 1998, subsequently affirmed by U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Assn. challenged ITC finding in U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), which twice remanded case to ITC. In 2nd remand, ITC reversed 1998 finding. Domestic industry, led by Micron Technologies, lost appeal of reversed decision. Commerce also is terminating administrative and shipper reviews during 3-year period and instructed Custom Services to refund all duties deposited by importers plus interest where applicable. Duty was imposed when SRAM business was in decline due to PC makers’ moving to newer technology. Market subsequently revived as manufacturers began to use SRAM as embedded memory for many telecom devices, including wireless handsets.
Judicial Watch criticized $14 million settlement by Loral and U.S. State Dept. Wed. over company’s involvement in providing secret missile technology to China after failed rocket launch in 1996. Justice Dept. also ended its separate investigation of Hughes Electronics for its alleged involvement in helping China improve its nuclear capabilities, and settlement is expected, company said. Judicial Watch in Nov. 1998 filed shareholder lawsuit in U.S. Dist. Court, D.C., against Loral Chmn. Bernard Schwartz, ex- President Bill Clinton and ex-Vice President Al Gore, charging payment to Clinton Administration to provide export licenses, access to Commerce Dept.-sponsored trade missions and to “look the other way” as Loral improperly aided China’s nuclear program. Loral agreed to pay $14 million to State Dept. with no interest over 7-year period. As part of agreement, Justice Dept. terminated its investigation of company. Loral will spend additional $6 million to strengthen its export compliance program. Schwartz said company had “excellent security record” and had “instituted an extensive new training program, significantly expanded staff and greatly improved oversight in the area of export control.” Investigation began when Loral employee sent copy of Independent Review Committee report on failed launch to Chinese govt.
Stakeholders in NextWave case talked Thurs. about possible options in response to unwillingness of Congress to codify proposed settlement by end of last year. Although FCC and Dept. of Justice supported $16 billion deal with bankrupt carrier that would have required return of auctioned C-block licenses, congressional action was needed to put $10 billion back into U.S. Treasury and allow NextWave to keep $6 billion after taxes. Sources said decision whether to revive proposal in some form was unlikely before end of day, but said negotiations would continue.
The Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) Web site (www.fedbizopps.gov) effective Jan. 1 becomes “single point of universal public access on the Internet” to federal procurement announcements as govt. shuts down publication of Commerce Business Daily (CBD). Duplicate publication of procurement actions exceeding $25,000 had been required in CBD and FBO during Oct. 1-Dec. 31 transition period. Dept. of Commerce Office of Acquisition Management said “designation of this one-stop online gateway represents an important step in the ongoing transformation to a more efficient, accessible, citizen-centric e-government.” CBD ceases publication Jan. 4. However, “an archive database will continue to be available at CBDNet as part of the Federal Depository Library Program Electronic Collection” when active CBDNet database is shut down -- 877-472-3779.
Dept. of Commerce Technology Administration is accepting recommendations for appointments to its National Medal of Technology Nomination Evaluation Committee. Panel assists President in awarding medal, which govt. considers to be nation’s “highest honor for technological innovation.” Committee seeks potential members such as industry analysts from telecom sector. Nominations are due Jan. 28 -- 202-482- 5572.