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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2008
The plaintiffs are also suing
vice president Dick Cheney,
former attorney general Alberto
Gonzales and others who ordered
or participated in the warrantless
domestic surveillance.
The US Congress this year passed
legislation granting domestic
telecommunications firms im-
munity from domestic spying
lawsuits. Legal wrangling about
the constitutionality of that act
has stalled a suit brought by EFF
in 2006 against AT&T, charging the
US telecom giant with opening up
its network to NSA agents without
proper warrants. Similar litigation
aimed at other telecom firms has
also been held up.
According to the latest report
✆
✆
by the independent British mar-
ket analyst firm Datamonitor,
information technology budgets
are expected to fall next year.
“Technology Trends: Analyzing
Global Enterprise IT Budgets
2008” discloses that the majority
of enterprises globally are
planning to cut back on projected
increases in IT expenditure in
2009. London-based Datamonitor
says the downward trend has
been developing over the last
couple of years, and is not a
function of current economic
conditions.
The Business Standard (New
✆
✆
Delhi) reported 22
nd
September
that India’s Department of
Telecommunications (DoT) was
unlikely to address the con-
cerns of prospective foreign
players over the quantity of
third-generation mobile phone
standards and technology (3G)
spectrum that will be up for sale,
although it has acknowledged
that 5MHz is not adequate to
launch the suite of this high-end
service. A senior DoT official
said that – while operators were
given more spectrum for 3G on a
global basis – 5MHz is adequate
for India, as ascertained by
subscriber preference and usage,
at least initially. While prospective
3G players in the home market
do not see a problem, the
issue has been raised by foreign
companies considering entry
into the Indian market.
China Unicom Ltd and China
✆
✆
Netcom Corp announced on 18
th
September that they had gained
final shareholder approval for
their merger in a government-
mandated telephone industry
restructuring.
Beijing’s
intention
is
to
boost
competition
in
its
telecommunications market by
reorganising the nation’s carriers
into three groups – China Mobile
Ltd, China Telecom Ltd and
Unicom-Netcom – each with
mobile and fixed-line assets.
Presumably this will help to
balance an industry in which
fixed-line carriers are struggling
while the popularity of mobile
service has soared. Netcom
brings a fixed-line network to
the merger with Unicom, which
contributes mobile service.
Earlier, Unicom shareholders
had approved a separate plan to
sell one of the company’s mobile
networks to China Telecom.