Appliance Design - August 2008 - (Page 40)

ASSOCIATION REPORT: CEA Vice President of Communications Consumer Electronics Association Jason Oxman T Optimizing Spectrum Usage market-oriented spectrum policy, and investment and innovation has quickly followed. CEA has been a driving force in spectrum policy. Three years ago, CEA called upon U.S. policymakers to lead consumers into a new era of mobility and spectrum-based services. CEA developed a four-part approach designed to revolutionize spectrum policy: a firm deadline to complete the DTV transition; establishment of a spectrum relocation fund; allocation of more spectrum for unlicensed use; and exploration of opportunities for secondary uses of licensed spectrum. U.S. leaders responded by adopting policies that already have begun to drive investment, innovation, and consumer welfare. Congress passed the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 that set Feb. 17, 2009, as the hard deadline for the DTV transition. Congress also passed the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act in 2004 that created a Spectrum Relocation Fund so that auction proceeds can be used to relocate Federal users from spectrum reallocated to commercial use. In 2005, the FCC opened opportunities for unlicensed devices to access an additional spectrum, enabling a new array of high-data rate communications opportunities. In that same year, the FCC expanded its Secondary Markets Initiative to provide additional flexibility for novel arrangements. The FCC also created opportunities between public safety and commercial users in parts of the 700 MHz band. And in 2007, the FCC announced it would open up spectrum in the TV bands in areas between station operations, the so-called white spaces, to innovative, non-interfering, fixed wireless operations. Consumers deserve a new wireless world — one that ensures the valuable spectrum resource is available for a new generation of services, technology and investment. During the past five years, policymakers have made available over 400 MHz of spectrum for commercial use, and the marketplace has responded with innovative services and devices that consumers have embraced. Today’s challenge is to build on that success and to identify another 200 MHz for new uses, to fend off needless regulation, to protect services from harmful interference, and to further extend the benefits of spectrum-based services to more users. < www.applianceDESIGN.com he consumer electronics industry has brought an ever-widening array of innovative devices to the market, benefiting consumers and making enormous contributions to the economy. CE products increasingly rely on wireless communications to deliver mobile services and features that increase productivity, enable people to work on the go, provide entertainment, and offer connectivity at home, at work, and at play. Wireless communications depend on the availability of radio frequencies or spectrum. Critical spectrum policy decisions by the government determine which spectrum, and how much of it, can be used for various types of communications, and on what terms. Spectrum policy decisions may seem arcane, but they are of tremendous importance because they affect all consumers and have a powerful impact on the economy. Simply put, spectrum policy plays a critical enabling role in the CE industry. The Consumer Electronics Association is a leading advocate for enlightened spectrum policy that drives investment and innovation and makes new devices and services available to consumers. In the U.S., consumers have come to expect to be connected everywhere and at all times, an expectation met with the help of cordless phones in the home, and cell phones taken everywhere, often with hands-free headsets. People check email and schedules on PDAs that are instantly synchronized with computers at home or the office. People take pictures with handsets and send them wirelessly to friends or post them on the Internet. And laptop computers provide broadband connectivity to the world via Wi-Fi routers at home, the office or hotspots, and increasingly over wireless broadband networks The spectrum policy decisions on the horizon will have a lasting effect on how people work and play and on the economy. So it is imperative to make available the spectrum resources needed for a new generation of innovation, services, and investment. U.S. policy makers have been instrumental in creating a framework for the wireless revolution. In the past decade, the U.S. Congress, the Administration, and the FCC have worked together to nearly double the amount of commercial licensed spectrum available, while the amount of unlicensed spectrum has nearly quadrupled. Policymakers have largely embraced a 40 applianceDESIGN August 2008 http://www.appliancedesign.com

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Appliance Design - August 2008 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Plastics Switches Noise & Vibration Control Joining New Products Design Marts Association Report: CEA Advertiser’s Index

Appliance Design - August 2008

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