Submitted on January 6 2009, 02:06 pm by Scott Covell

Economist Recommends $17.4 B Stimulus for Wireless Infrastructure

Since the presidential election, PCIA has communicated the importance of wireless infrastructure to President-Elect Obama’s Transition Team and leadership of the new Congress.

At the request of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the incoming Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, PCIA provided data on the strong economic value of wireless infrastructure deployment, identified appropriate regulatory relief in the infrastructure siting process, and suggested funding priorities for the wireless industry.

On behalf of Obama’s Transition Team, former FCC Chief Economist Dr. Alan Pearce prepared an economic analysis of the wireless industry as input to development of the infrastructure initiative economic stimulus package. Dr. Pearce relied on PCIA to provide crucial financial and other quantitative data for use in his analysis.

His resulting report, entitled “Accelerated Wireless Broadband Infrastructure Deployment: Impact on GDP & Employment in 2009 – 2010,” estimates that direct and indirect investments of $17.4B for wireless broadband infrastructure would increase GDP by 0.9 – 1.3% or $126.3B – $184.1B and create approximately 4.5million – 6.3 million jobs. The report also emphasizes that time limits should be placed on local jurisdictional review of wireless infrastructure applications and the FCC should clear the backlog of pending applications referred for NEPA review.

PCIA and its members will continue to be important contributors to the work of the new Administration and Congress as a fast-track economic stimulus package is adopted.

Submitted on November 6 2008, 01:08 pm by Scott Covell

Announcing our new Wireless Careers website & Job Board! The Florida Wireless Association has teamed with theWirelessWorkForce.com to provide a valuable new service to our members. By clicking on the Manage Careers link, (far right on the menu bar), employers and job seekers may access an Effective, Easy and Inexpensive means for matching talent with opportunity.

EMPLOYERS: post jobs and search resumes without charge. Select your candidate(s) and pay only $50 to be introduced once the candidate has confirmed an interest in the position,. Please give the service a try with your next job opening.

WIRELESS PROFESSIONALS: Stay informed about interesting opportunities effortlessly and automatically. Simply upload an anonymous profile naming the position(s) for which you want to be considered and you will be contacted when those opportunities become available. We urge everyone to keep a discreet profile on the website.

REFER JOB SEEKERS: See a job posting on tWWF and know a perfect candidate? Refer them to tWWF and collect a referral fee upon successful placement. (See our referral policy for details).

MORE

1. tWWF is exclusively for the wireless community so there is no need to wade through an endless stack of irrelevant resumes. Each and every tWWF member is a wireless professional who is thoroughly familiar with our industry.

2. tWWF offers access to both active and passive job seekers, broadening the talent pool to include persons who would otherwise be inaccessible.

3. tWWF is national in scope and is working to partner with all of the SWAP organizations across the US. To date we are partnered with California, Washington/Oregon, Florida & Kentucky.

tWWF was designed to serve the needs of the wireless telecom community. We hope we have done our job in bringing you a tool that will change the way you find that perfect job or talent. If you have suggestions or comments regarding tWWF, please contact ppachuta@twwf.net.

Submitted on 2 July 2009, 8:25 am by Fierce Wireless

Although the latest incarnation of the iPhone launched less than two weeks ago, it appears Apple is wasting no time in applying for patents for technology that it could add to future iPhone models. According to the website MacRumors.com, Apple is researching haptic display technologies, which would allow for tactile feedback on the iPhone's touchscreen--thereby countering a gripe against the device. Additional patents point to fingerprint identification technology and RFID tag readers in touchscreens. Article

Submitted on 2 July 2009, 8:18 am by Fierce Wireless

The Obama administration released grant guidelines for the government's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package Wednesday, and the rules call for net neutrality provisions to be applied to grant winners. The stipulations may deter wireless companies wary of complying with the rules.

Grant winners will have to follow the FCC's 2005 Internet Policy statement, which prohibits companies from deliberately blocking or slowing a competitor's Internet traffic. Grant winners must "not favor any lawful Internet applications and content over others," the rules state. FCC commissioner Michael Copps has said that those rules apply to wireless companies. The new FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, has not yet given his opinion on the issue. Public interest groups, including Free Press, applauded the net neutrality efforts.

Wireless trade group CTIA said it was still reviewing the guidelines and had no comment, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, given the group's previous comments on the matter, it's clear the inclusion of net neutrality provisions come as a blow.

In comments filed in April to both the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service, CTIA said that net neutrality rules "should be applied to broadband stimulus grantees within the context of its existing parameters, and not more broadly."

"Wireless networks are inherently different than the networks for which the [net neutrality] policy statement was developed," CTIA said. "The underlying network infrastructure, including spectrum, as well as the integration of the customer equipment, make wireless significantly different than other broadband networks."

For more:
- see this WSJ blog post
- see the broadband stimulus grant guidelines