It appears that the FCC will set the 700MHz auction rules tomorrow, July 31, according to the Washington Post. Perhaps in anticipation of significant changes, the article is heavy on Google's entry into the politics of Capitol Hill.
Speaking at the Wireless Communications Association annual Washington show, Benjamin Wolff, chief executive officer of Clearwire Corp., expressed optimism about the progress of WiMax in general, and his company's progress in particular.
Clearwire has 258,000 subscribers and is within reach of 10 million people. Wolff suggested that PC data cards would be coming later this year "and embedded WiMAX chipsets for laptops and other mobile devices will be out next year," according to the June 13 issue of Telecommunications Reports Daily.
For his part, Om Malik has been skeptical of the case for WiMax, suggesting a couple years ago, for example, that the technology would be great for carrier backhaul. Today he notes that Sprint could be thinking of a different WiMax direction that could include working with the cablecos.
A search for "WiMax" on his site turned up these stories.
Philly chief technologist Dianah Neff is set to join the municipal WiFi consulting firm, Civitium, according to Om Malik's blog.
MuniWireless has more.
To the extent that city's have won acceptance of their wireless broadband projects, it's in no small part a result of Ms. Neff's efforts to get the Philly project off the ground.
Sitting in on a conference call, Om Malik details what he heard about Sprint's mobile WiMax plans.
According to Government Technology, state government CIOs visited Washington recently during the NASCIOs sixth-annual D.C. fly-in. One of the issues on the agenda was federal funding complexities. The group has just published a call to action on the issue, States Need Reform in Federal IT Funding:
Currently, the general guidelines attached to federal programmatic funding do not promote enterprise IT shared solutions, infrastructure optimization or the integrated channels of services sought by citizens. The state IT landscape has changed significantly, yet federal grant funding guidelines do not reflect this new environment. As millions of new federal dollars are spent on IT that supports human services, public health, justice and homeland security, a change in attitude toward enterprise IT solutions and flexible commingling guidelines with specific cost-allocation options could greatly improve the return on every federal dollar spent on information systems in the states.
According to Doug Robinson, executive director for NASCIO, "A total of 36 separate meetings were held. Of those, 30 were with Members of Congress or their staffs, 4 were with federal agencies..."
The organization also recently published this brief on the position of chief information security officer (CISO) and will likely follow up with a survey.
I keep writing about WiFi phones while wondering when they'll move beyond mere curiosities. This Om Malik post, which displays a new clam shell WiFi phone from D-Link, also introduced me to a new term, "PsipTN," that may hold part of the answer.
PsipTN stands for "Public SIP Telephone Network," a "global IP network capable of carrying voice, media, contents and a variety of hosted services while providing interoperability with all PsipTN Ready hardware IP end points and soft clients." The network is maintained by contributing members of PsipTN.org.
It's part of the emerging fixed-mobile environment. British Telecom launched a related service in June, BT Fusion.
NASTD members may download a recent presentation at the Western region meeting on the subject of fixed-mobile convergence here.
Over at Om Malik's blog, Katie Fehrenbacher writes than in addition to developing muni-broadband networks, Earthlink is planning a WiFi-only phone. The company plans to sell voice and data subscriptions.
Georgia is making funds available for municiple wireless initiatives in the state, according to Government Technology.
The program, according to a release from the Governor [Sonny Perdue's] Office, will provide funding to at least three communities. At Perdue's request, the General Assembly appropriated funds for the program during the 2006 legislative session. A total of $4 million is available. The program is managed by the Georgia Technology Authority.
More program information about Wireless Communities Georgia is located here.
ConnectKentucky has been named the winner of a national excellence in economic development award, according to Government Technology. Governor Ernie Fletcher's Prescription for Innovation, of which ConnectKentucky is a part, is credited with increasing broadband availability and usage by 33 and 45 percent, respectively. The goal is to make broadband avialable to 100 percent of the homes in the commonwealth by 2007. That figure is currently 82 percent.
The Economic Development Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce made the award. More information on awarded programs is available on its web site.
In yesterday's post, Om Malik touches on the SkypeOut move to eliminate the $.02 minute charge to call cell phones and landlines, which, in his words, reinforces the trend toward "vanishing voice revenues." Andy Kessler, guest blogging for Om today, applauds EBay's brass knuckle tactic (EBay owns Skype), which might just KO Vonage.
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