On November 21, 2006, Panama was the first Member State to sign, subject to ratification, the Protocol of Amendment to the Inter-American Convention on an International Amateur Radio Permit (IARP). This Protocol grants holders of radio amateur permits of the member countries of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications (CEPT) that have applied Recommendation T/R 61-01 the same rights and privileges that are given to the holders of IARP of the CITEL Member States, which then become States parties to the Protocol, as long as the CEPT grants the holders of IARP the same privileges and exemptions granted to the holders of the CEPT radio amateur licenses of the CEPT Member States that have applied Recommendation T/R 61-01. The Protocol is deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.

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The XVIII meeting of the Permanent Executive Committee of CITEL (COM/CITEL) will take place in San José, Costa Rica, from December 5 to 8, 2006. At this meeting we will address, among others, a Report of the work done at the recent Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU by the Conference Preparatory Working Group, approval of the program of scholarships in telecommunications for 2007 and meetings of the Working Group to prepare the Council of the ITU,  the Working Group on Connectivity in the Americas and the Working Group on on the Strategic Plan of CITEL.

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By José G. Pena, Daniel Matos, Karina Salas, Saray Hernandez,
Victor Taborda, Telecomunicaciones Movilnet, CANTV
Cellular operators have experienced a decline in their ARPU. Therefore, they have become aware of the need for investment in new access technologies that enable new services to be offered.

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By CONATEL, Venezuela
Communication Power Line Carrier Systems over electric power transmission cables have been used by power companies from about 50 years. Originally these systems were used by the power companies for transmission of communication signals related to their own needs, especially for protection of high voltage power transmission lines; simple supervisory and control systems, and voice communication channels related to the operation of the electric system. Capacity and speed were relatively low, and carrier frequencies were typically below 2 or 3 MHz. Frequently, they were used over significant distances, using wave traps and coupling capacitors capable of sustaining the line voltages to isolate the electric cables at the carrier frequency.

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By ANATEL-Brazil
After thorough testing and careful studies, the Brazilian Government issued Decree No. 5.820 of June 29, 2006, which provides regulations for the implementation of a series of technological standards for the transmission and reception of digital terrestrial television signals, guaranteeing the general public unrestricted and free access to these signals.

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By Victor Cruz, INICTEL
The effects of electromagnetic fields have been studied since the 1950s.  The International Electromagnetic Field Project’s database (updated as of August 2006) indicates a total of 2462 studies of different types, of which its 2346 radiofrequency studies include 1137 on mobile telephony.

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By Alberto Montilla Bravo
Third generation (3G) mobile systems have evolved from existing second-generation (2G) systems, that is, GSM and CDMA (IS-95).  The main 3G development criteria, brought together under the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s IMT-2000 project, were to provide a higher user capacity radio interface and to provide higher user speeds (in theory, 2Mbps), objectives achieved in the first release of specifications, known as Release 99.

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On Friday, November 24, 2006, the National Telecommunication Commission (CONATEL) held a public hearing on the proposed administrative provision containing the conditions under which telephony services operators will be able to provide the text messaging facility.  (CONATEL, 24 November 2006)

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On November 23, Mr. Sergio Espejo, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, gave a positive and encouraging review, and referred to the “extraordinary and substantial” growth of the telecommunication industry in the past 15 years, underscoring in particular the growth of the mobile telephony market now seen in Chile. (SUBTEL, 23 November 2006)

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On November 20, 2006, the National Telecommunication Commission (CONATEL) launched a public consultation on the proposed General Telecommunication Service Contract Conditions, in order to define telecommunication service operator conditions, for inclusion in model service contracts to be concluded with subscribers – private, telecommunication service operators, or government entities. (CONATEL, 21 November 2006)

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With 770,895 new subscriptions in October, by month’s end, there were 96,641,799 mobile cellular telephony activations in Brazil.  Of that total, 78,060,088 were prepaid (80.77%) and 18,581,711 (19.23%) postpaid. (ANATEL, 20 November 2006)

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The first forum “Ensuring Full Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Endogenous Development Areas and Cooperatives, held Thursday, November 16 to Saturday, November 18, 2006 at Fuerte Tiuna’s Cavalry School, sought to provide solutions to the problems encountered daily by persons with disabilities in Venezuela.  (CONATEL, 17 November 2006)

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On November 17, Loral Skynet do Brasil Ltda, Star One S/A, and Hispamar Satélites S/A submit their envelopes containing the documentation enabling them to compete for three Brazilian satellite exploitation telecommunication signal transport licenses in a bidding process conducted by the Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações [National Telecommunication Agency] (Request for Proposals No. 005/2006/SPV-Anatel).  (ANATEL, 17 November 2006)

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Mr. Pablo Bello, Assistant Secretary of Telecommunications, participated in the seminar “New Thoughts on Digital Television,” where he referred to technical criteria and aspects now being considered by the government in determining the Digital Terrestrial Television standard (DTT). (SUBTEL, 10 November 2006)

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Colombia is presenting to different Latin American and Caribbean countries its achievements with its project to implement a Government Intranet, which now links 148 state entities and includes an interoperability platform, the Colombian state’s high-speed network, and a data center. (Ministry of Communications, 8 November 2006)

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Ms. María del Rosario Guerra, Minister of Communications, attended the ITU 2006 international telecommunication conference, held in Antalya, Turkey, where she requested the members’ assistance in implementing, in developing countries that so request, broadband network infrastructures and modernizing traditional networks. (Ministry of Communications, 7 November 2006)

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Unless otherwise indicated, the materials published on this web site, including opinions expressed therein, are the responsibility of the individual authors/compilers and not those of the Organization of American States (“OAS”), GS/OAS, CITEL and the OAS Member States or its member countries.

The Protocol of Amendment to the IARP
XVIII Meeting of COM/CITEL
The challenge of the operators is the timely development of emerging technologies
Regarding broadband power line (BPL)
Introduction of digital television in Brazil
Environmental Management of Electromagnetic Fields
Third generation advances, 3.5G