Electronic Bulletin / Number 36 - June, 2007

Versión Español

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  Upcoming events
X Meeting of PCC.II

The X Meeting of the Permanent Consultative Committee II, Radiocommunications including Broadcasting (PCC.II) will be held in Orlando, Florida, USA, on July 31 to August 3, 2007. 

We would like to emphasize that the X meeting of PCC.II is the FINAL meeting to prepare for the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) and several documents are already included in the Electronic Forum of CITEL.  Also, other relevant topics will be considered such as the following:

  • Broadband Power Line Communications (BPL).

  • Procedures to be followed for authorization of earth stations on board vessels (ESV).

  • Broadband wireless access (BWA).

  • Implementation of regulations providing for the deployment of satellite services.

  • Harmful interferences by non authorized transmissions in satellite networks. Implementation of Digital Terrestrial TV.

  • Digital Radio.


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Forum of CITEL “Convergence: Transition of traditional networks and services in the Americas ”

With the aim of providing a space for discussion where CITEL Members can have access to the ideas of the most important sector experts, a FORUM of CITEL will be held on “Convergence: Transition of traditional networks and services in the Americas” on August 21, 2007, in San José, Costa Rica.

We especially wish to underscore that, bearing in mind the objective of helping countries benefit from opportunities afforded by the Information Society, and in accordance with the principles arising from the World Summit on the Information Society, the Summits of the Americas, the OAS mandates, and the Millennium Development Goals, on this occasion an agreement will be signed between CITEL and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to cooperate in implementing the regional project entitled “Reducing the Digital Divide and Advancing the Information Society in the Americas.” Mr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), will sign the Agreement for the ITU.

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  Important issues
CITEL and the CEPT Radio Amateur Licence

By Bob Whelan, IARU Region 1, CEPT ECC Working Group “Regulatory Affairs”
The CEPT Radio Amateur Licence, introduced in 1985 as CEPT Recommendation T/R 61-01, makes it possible for radio amateurs from both CEPT and some non-CEPT countries to operate amateur radio during short visits without obtaining an individual temporary amateur radio licence. Since its introduction this recommendation has worked very effectively. The numbers of radio amateurs who are now making vacation, business and other visits and who wish to operate during their stays has increased dramatically. For this reason the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) strongly supports efforts to simplify the issuing of radio amateur licences.

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International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 106

By R. C. Petersen, Chairman, IEC TC106
IEC Technical Committee 106 (TC106) was established in 1999 to develop international standards for the assessment of human exposure to electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields, over the frequency range of 0 Hz to 300 GHz.  Methods of assessment include measurement and numerical analysis.  Included are basic (horizontal) standards and product (vertical) standards for the assessment of exposure to the fields produced by specific sources (in so far as this task is not carried out by specific IEC product committees).  TC106 does not develop mitigation methods (these are dealt with by the relevant IEC product committees), nor does it develop safety limits.  However, TC106 standards may be used to assess compliance with the basic restrictions and derived limits (i.e., maximum permissible exposure and reference levels, such as incident electric and magnetic fields, RF power density, induced and contact current) found in international safety standards and guidelines, such as IEEE Standard C95.1-2005 and the 1998 ICNIRP guidelines.

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IEEE RF Safety Standard: Relevance to Base Station and Mobile Phone Safety Concerns

By C-K. Chou, Ph.D, Chairman, Technical Committee 95, IEEE
This new “IEEE Standard for Safety Levels with Respect to Human Exposure to Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields, 3 kHz to 300 GHz” published on April 19, 2006 is a revision of C95.1-1991 (1999 edition) and C95.1b-2004 “Amendment 2: Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) Limits for the Pinna.”  The revision is based on scientific and medical literature published through December 2003, but several 2004 and 2005 papers are included.  The document includes a comprehensive review of about 1300 references, including studies that involve low level exposures where increases in temperature could not be measured or were not expected (i.e., “non-thermal” effects).  The revised standard reflects new insights gained from improved experimental and numerical methods and a better understanding of acute and chronic radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field exposure effects on animals and humans.  

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RF Safety and Risk Communications – The Wi-Fi industry perspective

By John Roman, Chair, Task Group on Health and Science, Wi-Fi Alliance
Wi-Fi® is a very low powered technology that uses radio waves to develop a local area network (LAN) among computing and consumer electronics equipment.  Wi-Fi is being widely used to provide wireless internet access in public places such as airports, hotels and coffee shops, as well as in the office and homes.  An estimated 300 million people worldwide use Wi-Fi. Recently some people have raised questions about the impact on human health from the use of Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi Alliance takes any such concerns seriously. Although questions have been raised, a range of scientific research undertaken to date concludes that there is no confirmed evidence that RF electromagnetic fields below the current international safety guidelines (ANSI/IEEE C95.1-2006 and ICNIRP 1998 Guidelines) cause adverse health effects Wi-Fi technology must be designed and tested to meet all national and international safety requirements. Wi-Fi networks emit signals that are typically hundreds to thousands of times below the required safety limits.

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The experience of mobile telephony and antenna structures in Argentina

By Norberto Capellán, Chair, CICOMRA
As a rule, communications have grown substantially in the past decades, and cell phones in particular have become the form of communication chosen by more than 2.5 billion persons in the world. Argentina has not been the exception, and mobile telephony has grown substantially over the past years.  Today, in our country, we have more than 34 million users, that is, about 85% of the population of all ages and social strata, using this technology.                     

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  Training
Quality of Service (QoS) - Parte 1

By  Jaime Rubio, Associate expert, CINTEL Colombia
Quality of service for multi-service IP networks (IP QoS) is a resource used widely among operators in order to be able to guarantee that the demands are met of each and every type of service and application to traverse their networks.  In this article, we seek to explain succinctly IP QoS and how the different existing techniques for its implementation are applied.

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  What's happening in the region?
Honduras: Call For International Bid - International Public BID CNT-L001/2007 

The National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) invites all national and foreign companies, interested in the grant of a concession for provision of Personal Communications Services (PCS) as part of the Service of Mobile Telephony in the entire territory of the Republic of Honduras, to participate in the process of International Public Bid CNT-L001/2007, by means of which the following range of frequencies will be licensed:

Band: PCS
Frequencies of Assignment: 1,870–1,890 MHz y 1,950–1,970 MHz
Covering: Nation-wide

The Terms for the Pre-Qualifying Round will be available to interested parties at CONATEL headquarters, located at Colonia Modelo, 6th Avenue S.O., Comayagüela, HONDURAS, during business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., from July 2nd to July 27th 2007.  In order to be inscribed in Participants Registry, a fee should be paid on the amount of US $500.00 by all interested parties. - The above mentioned Terms are also available for information purposes at CONATEL Web page (www.conatel.hn).  (CONATEL, 25 June 2007)

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Venezuela: MPPTI and CONATEL Begin Digital Television Trials in Caracas

The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MPPTI) is promoting a project to foster and encourage the development of digital television and digital radio in Venezuela, reported Minister Jesse Chacón at the inauguration of the digital terrestrial television trials to be conducted in Caracas in the framework of the Americas Cup.  (CONATEL, 25 June 2007)

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Brazil: Anatel Launches National Campaign to Disseminate Minute-Based Tariffs

To help users understand changes in fixed telephony local calling charges and select the plan most suited to their profiles, on Sunday, June 24, the Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações [National Telecommunication Agency] (Anatel) launched a campaign to disseminate the minute-pulse conversion.  The Agency is also making available on its website, www.anatel.gov.br , a page containing questions regarding the new tariffs that are most frequently asked by users of the customer service center (0800 33 2001).(ANATEL, 25 June 2007)

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Chile: Government Establishes Committee of Ministers for Innovation

Composed of seven ministers of state, the Committee’s objective is to ensure the implementation of the Innovation for Competitiveness Strategy and to coordinate state action to that end On June 21, 2007, the Governmental Committee for Innovation for Competitiveness was formed, composed of seven secretaries of state. Its fundamental mission is to advise the President in this area and to coordinate actions related to the development of human capital, scientific development, and the development of entrepreneurial innovation in Chile. The Committee members are the Ministers of the Treasury; Foreign Affairs; Education; Public Works; Transportation and Telecommunications; Agriculture; and Economy. (SUBTEL, 22 June 2007)

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Colombia Connects:  A Seminar to Promote ICT Use

Under the theme “Colombia Connects,” from June 19 to 23, a seminar directed by the Ministry of Communications will be held, which will seeks to encourage citizens to know how to use the Internet as the basic information and communication technology (ICT) platform. (Ministry of Communications, 19 June 2007)

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Brazil: Call for Bids for Frequencies and Call for Bids for 3G are Anatel Brasília Priorities

The Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações [National Telecommunication Agency] (Anatel) on June 14 defined the rules to govern the call for bids for frequencies and the call for bids to provide third generation (3G) services in mobile communications. (ANATEL, 14 June 2007)

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Peru: A Million Peruvians Will Have Internet Access

Over a million Peruvians outside Lima will be able to connect to the world after today’s award of the Rural Internet Project, prepared by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MTC) and tendered through the Agencia de Promoción de la Inversión Privada [Agency for Private Investment Promotion] (PROINVERSION). (Ministry of Transport and Communications, 14 June 2007)

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Colombia: Capital Cities” Community Radio:  Preparations Begin for a New Call for Bids

The Ministry of Communications has begun the procedure for the Community Radio Public Call for Bids, No. 01 of 2007, in Colombia’s departmental capital cities, whose initial opening is planned for the Departments of Boyacá, Chocó, Guajira, Vaupés, and Vichada.   Calls for bids are also scheduled soon for the remaining departmental capitals. (Ministry of Communications, 13 June 2007)

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  New Associate Members of CITEL
United States of America: Mobile Satellite Ventures

On June 27, 2007 Mobile Satellite Ventures, LP (MSV) of USA became an associate member of PCC.II.

Mobile Satellite Ventures, LP (MSV) is at the forefront of the development of the first integrated satellite-cellular communications network, which will provide seamless, transparent, interoperable and ubiquitous wireless coverage of North America using conventional handsets. It has extensive patents on the technology and holds the first U.S Federal Communications Commission license to provide these services.  The company took a lead role in the regulatory process that led to a regime, which allowed an ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) to mobile satellite services, and recognized it as an efficient, effective and forward-thinking use of scarce spectrum resources. As a result, MSV has pioneered the underlying technology necessary to deploy and operate a satellite/terrestrial hybrid network. Through the development of intellectual property and next generation system designs, the company has established the best approaches for spectrum sharing, interference cancellation, hybrid chipset-based devices and other techniques essential to the operation of an economic hybrid network.

United States of America: SOMA Networks Inc.

On June 27, 2007 SOMA Networks Inc. of USA became an associate member of PCC.I and PCC.II.

SOMA Networks was the first, and continues to be the only, broadband wireless company to deliver the industry's only all-IP Multimedia Application System for service providers. By taking a systems level, holistic network approach, SOMA makes the mobile WiMAX Standard better for service providers. Revenue (POTS) quality VIP, multi-megabit broadband data and video applications are key components of the SOMA solution, in addition to award winning macro base stations and subscriber gateways. In addition, SOMA's all IP architecture makes it easy to integrate with other IP-based application servers, billing and provisioning systems, breaking down many of the barriers to rapid deployment and service availability. And by doing this, SOMA Networks delivers the industry's best business case through low entry costs, greater coverage, higher subscriber density, higher revenue per subscriber, and lower overall subscriber costs.

CITEL invites Administrations and associate members to send us news or notices to include in this section.

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.

  Summary 

X Meeting of PCC.II
Forum of CITEL “Convergence: Transition of traditional networks and services in the Americas ”
CITEL and the CEPT Radio Amateur Licence
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 106
IEEE RF Safety Standard: Relevance to Base Station and Mobile Phone Safety Concerns
RF Safety and Risk Communications – The Wi-Fi industry perspective
The experience of mobile telephony and antenna structures in Argentina
Quality of Service - Part 1
 

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  Schedule of events

X Meeting of PCC.II
Orlando, Florida, United States of America, July 31 to August 3, 2007

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