Ambassador David Gross, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, briefed U.S. industry members last week on the results of the U.S. government interagency delegation’s bilateral meetings with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on June 20.  Ambassador Gross’ delegation included Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin and National Telecommunications and Information Administration Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information Meredith Baker as well as representatives from U.S. Trade Representative’s office and the Department of Justice.

While cautioning that he did not want to give a false sense of progress or indicate that the bilateral meeting resulted in China reversing its market access policies or altering its position on the free flow of information on the Internet, Gross described the meeting with MIIT has a “high-water mark” in terms of the depth and openness of the discussion between the U.S. and China on telecommunications issues.

For more than nine hours, the U.S. Delegation and MIIT discussed issues related to convergence, spectrum, disaster management, ICTs and climate change, changes in China’s telecom law, and broadband growth.  Gross also indicated that China appeared more receptive to the possibility of negotiating an Mutual Recognition Agreement than it had in the past, and that further discussions on the issue could take place during future meetings, such as in the September meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT)

On 3G licensing, Gross reported that MIIT appeared more confident about the prospects for TD-SCDMA technology than it has in the past – noting that the technology is in trial deployments in eight cities and that MIIT has set a target of 100 million TD-SCDMA subscribers.  Gross added that MIIT did not diverge from its previously stated position that it would be “technology neutral” in the 3G area and would permit licensing for CDMA2000 and WCDMA technologies as well.  However, MIIT cautioned that 3G licensing would only be initiated after the carrier and MIIT reorganization is complete, likely at the end of this year.

Gross indicated that there was no progress on the market capitalization requirement., China referred to discussions underway in the JCCT forum, but admitted  that is has internal issues that need to be resolved before any progress can be made in this area.  Similarly, there was no progress to report in the satellite market access area, which is also a topic that has been discussed at the JCCT.  China was receptive to U.S. concerns regarding the damage to undersea cables on the Chinese coast line, and MIIT indicated it would form a committee to help coordinate repairs to undersea cable.

Based on meetings with MIIT and with China Mobile, Gross said it appeared that China was loosening its restrictive approach with respect to WiMAX and now appears willing to permit its industry to begin experimenting with it. 

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Ahead of an August 1 open meeting of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated a Memorandum of Opinion & Order (MO&O) that addresses Comcast’s network management practices. This action comes in response to allegations of unreasonable network management and a call by Free Press, Vuze and others to remedy what they perceive as ongoing harms caused by discriminatory degradation of Internet traffic by Comcast.

The network management practice in dispute  relates to ubiquitous deployment, the "always on" nature of tools, and the use of Sandvine reset tools and related tools, which raise questions about any platforms that block all of certain applications, including peer-to-peer. The Commission is likely to find that these practices constitute unreasonable network management.  However, Comcast has already committed to cease such activity by Dec. 31, 2008. 

In comments filed with the FCC in this proceeding, TIA argued that the Commission should: (1) continue to rely on its Internet Policy Statement in evaluating broadband providers’ behavior, addressing claims of harm on a case-by case-basis; (2) recognize that robust network management is essential in today’s broadband market; and (3) ensure that broadband consumers receive meaningful information regarding the details of their service plans.

The FCC is expected to vote on the MO&O at the Aug. 1 meeting.  For more information, please contact Becky Schwartz at (202) 346-3248 or rschwartz@tiaonline.org