RoW Update

Industry Canada offers little comment on Satmex issueOfficials at Industry Canada are reluctant to provide any details of discussions with the Mexican government and satellite operator Satmex over the proposed launch of a satellite that could cause potentially damaging interference to satellites operated by Telesat Canada. The satellites in question carry traffic for Star Choice Communications Inc. An official with the department tells Report on Wireless that this is a sensitive issue and making any public comments at this time could have a negative impact on future discussions.The issue was made public last month when Star Choice parent company Shaw Communications Inc. released its fourth-quarter and year-end results. In an October 17 news release, the company noted that Satmex plans to launch a satellite and operate it in an orbital position "adjacent to the satellites used by Star Choice, at a power level that would cause significant interference to Star Choice." The launch, if it were to proceed, would contravene international satellite coordination agreements. Industry Canada has advised the company that the matter should be resolved through the international satellite coordination process. No new developments in 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz licensing processThe licensing of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz range won’t move ahead any time soon, according to Industry Canada. An official with the department tells Report on Wireless that while it continues to forge ahead with the file, there won’t be any news on that front in the near term. The consultation process began August 2001. Industry Canada still has to decide whether it will proceed with a single auction of both bands at the same time or separate them. The official says that is still being worked out. Industry Canada responds to committee report on technologyIndustry minister Alan Rock has tabled the federal government’s response to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology’s 10th report. In its response, Rock said that the government has already taken steps to address several concerns raised by the committee. In the committee’s report table in Parliament on June 12, 2002, it asked for the implementation of several new programs including: the creation of a permanent program for funding indirect costs associated with university research; assist under-developed or small institutions; and increase funding to all three granting agencies."The congruence between the recommendations of the committee and the priorities set by the government in Achieving Excellence: Investing in People, Knowledge and Opportunity, one of the volumes of Canada’s Innovation Strategy are striking," said Rock in a letter accompanying the government’s response. "I am convinced that when consultations with Canadians from all walks of life about Canada’s Innovation Strategy are completed we will see that your recommendations address many of their concerns too, either directly or indirectly." To address several concerns the committee raised, the government noted that it had created the Canada Foundation for Innovation, in which it has invested $3.5 billion; created the Canadian Institutes of Health Research with an annual budget of $560 million; and invested $900 million to sustain the Canada Research Chairs. RIM not immune to effects of downturnResearch in Motion Ltd. announced last week that it is halting five years of rapid expansion by cutting 10% of its employees globally. Details of the cuts, estimated to be approximately 220 employees, have yet to be made public, but some speculate that the company’s R&D centre and corporate headquarters in Waterloo ON will receive the brunt of the cuts. The company noted in a news release that it expects to save approximately $20-$25 million annually as a result of the staff reductions. RIM will take a pre-tax charge of between $8-$9 million in the third quarter of its fiscal 2003. "In order to solidify our position and achieve our financial targets, we are moving ahead with a difficult, yet strategically important, decision to tighten operational efficiencies and adjust our current staffing level. We believe this streamlining will prove to be a prudent move for RIM in both the near term and the long term," Jim Balsillie, chair and co-CEO, said in a news release. Despite last week’s negative news, the company has recently signed three key technology licensing agreements that will boost its top line in the years to come (RoW, Nov. 12/02). Pre-paid subscribers will make up third of Canadian marketAccording to a new report released by the Yankee Group, one third of Canadian wireless subscribers are projected to be on pre-paid plans by 2006. The research firm reports in Snowbirds Take Flight: A Canadian Wireless and SMS Update that, despite Canadian carriers’ inability to make any decent return from pre-paid services, it still has the ability to make significant in-roads among minority groups and the youth and senior markets. The report also notes that carriers don’t actually know who constitutes their pre-paid subscriber base. "The relationship with the subscriber typically ends as soon as someone leaves a store with a pre-paid phone in hand. This makes it difficult to develop long-lasting relationships with these subscribers and has made churn reduction and ARPU lift with this segment particularly challenging," a news release announcing the report states. Wi-LAN releases new product to boost coverage levelsCalgary-based Wi-LAN Inc. has released another W-OFDM product that offers non-line-of-sight capabilities and can improve subscriber coverage from the 50% level or less to more than 90%. LIBRA is based on a flexible architecture that supports full or half duplex operation, is fully redundant, supports T1 and E1 voice networks and has tiered service management. The product is a third generation of products based on the company’s patented W-OFDM technology."The end result of 10 years of field-proven W-OFDM technology and experience, LIBRA has many value-added features, is seamlessly compatible with Wi-LAN’s prior generation of BWS products and is packaged in a highly integrated and compact single-unit form factor," company chair, president and CEO Hatim Zaghloul said in a news release. LIBRA succeeds the BWS 3000 series of equipment and is offered in 3.5 MHz, 7 MHz and 14 MHz channel widths and operates in various frequencies covering the worldwide 3.5GHz-licensed band. CSI announces private placementCalgary-based CSI Wireless Inc. is searching for another injection of funds as it has entered into a private placement agreement with CIBC World Markets Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., Acument Capital Finance Partners Ltd. and Research Capital Corp. The company is seeking a minimum of $4.5 million and a maximum of $8 million through the issuance of units at $1.30 each. The proceeds will be used to pay down debt and to fund the general growth of the business. "We are entering a period of very high growth potential for the company," CSI president and CEO Stephen Verhoeff said in a news release. "Recent product launches and partnership announcements have spurred exciting new opportunities for CSI Wireless. This working capital will allow us to better pursue this larger business and manage anticipated growth rates." Each unit will consist of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each full warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share at $1.80 for a period of 15 months following the closing date. AmikaNow! receives first U.S. patentAmikaNow! has received its first U.S. patent in the area of automatic message interpretation, transformation and personalization. The Ottawa-based company is a pioneer in the development of automatic email systems that protect privacy information in the healthcare, finance and government markets. The company filed its patent in 1999 to protect its underlying technology of automatic analysis, prioritization and transformation of messages. The technology, which can be used in email compliance solutions, email gateways and wireless, allows users to have irrelevant messages, such as spam, deleted automatically from their inboxes. "Today, 11 billion emails with 7 billion attachments will be exchanged, and there is a strong need for them to be automatically screened to protect the enterprise from liability," AmikaNow!’s founder and CEO Sue Abu-Hakima said in a news release. In related news, the company has announced its acceptance into the Springboard 2002 US Venture Forum in Boston, being held on November 22. INTERNATIONAL NEWS FCC grants full refunds relating to NextWave auctionThe Federal Communications Commission has opted not to force wireless carriers to pay for licences they won in the auction of the disputed NextWave Telecom spectrum licences. It has also decided to refund deposits to those companies that successful bid on the licences. This is great news for the winning bidders, which can now remove the billions of dollars of liability off their books. The U.S. government was on tap to receive US$16 billion from the auction. The FCC stated that while it isn’t under any legal obligation to return the funds, the public interest is better served by this plan. "Noting that the telecommunications industries have been undergoing serious economic difficulties, the commission said that granting this relief to Auction No. 35 bidders may help consumers by promoting greater stability in the wireless sector and allowing the companies to redirect their capital and focus their resources on providing communications services," the FCC noted in a November 14 news release. FCC releases intelligent transportation systems policy On November 7, the Federal Communications Commission approved a new policy for the licensing of spectrum in the upper 5.9 GHz band (5.850 - 5.925 GHz) for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) used in intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The FCC is now seeking comment on a number of issues including: site- or geographic-based licensing, whether to permit non-public safety operations in the band, interoperability issues, appropriate licensing schemes, coordination between Canada and Mexico, among other issues. The Canadian government is also looking to allocate the same bands to ITS. It initiated a consultation on this particular issue as well as others in a review of the 3-30 GHz bands (DGTP-001-02). While harmonizing with the United States is desired, there has been some concern expressed by at least one party. The 407 ETR Concession Company Ltd. is concerned about the impacts of a switch from current electronic toll collection systems operating in the 915 MHz band to the proposed 5.9 GHz frequency range (RoW, May 27/02). Wireless will be front and centre at COMDEX Many industry observers, leaders and analysts are predicting that this year’s edition of the annual COMDEX conference and trade show will be all about wireless. One example of a raft of new products that are expected to be announced is Toshiba’s latest laptop design, which will feature a dual-band Wi-Fi mode. Employing both 802.11a and 802.11b technologies, the laptop will be able to create 100-metre radius wireless zones. Toshiba executives say this is the beginning of a trend that will speed the adoption of wireless technology by both businesses and consumers. Oscar Koenders, vice president of product marketing at Toshiba, told a U.S. trade publication that the computer industry is transitioning towards multi-band wireless technology. The company’s research shows that in the next three years, the computer industry will move to 802.11a, then to dual-band (802.11 a and b), and then to tri-band (802.11a, b and g), Koenders said. "We’re going to start the transition now. It’s simply a matter of cost, nothing else."

RoW Update

News | 11/18/2002 5:00 am EST

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