Russia export controls and sanctions

The Environmental Health Trust announced a conference in Washington, D.C., Sept. 13-15 to examine risks cellphone use poses to public health. “Deeply troubling findings have been reported outside the U.S., where cell phones have been widely used for longer periods of time,” said Devra Davis, professor of public health at the University of Pittsburgh and primary organizer of the conference. “These findings show a doubled risk of brain cancer. Many governments, including France, Finland, China and Russia, even advise that children not use cell phones.” The conference is also sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; the University of Pittsburgh; the National Research Center for Women & Families; the International Commission for Electromagnetic Safety and the Flow Fund Circle. Key members of Congress have been invited and Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., is planning a Senate hearing on cellphones and health on Sept. 14, the group said.

Asia Satellite Telecommunications successfully launched AsiaSat5 Tuesday, the company said. The Loral-built satellite will replace AsiaSat2 to provide television, telephone, and VSAT networks for broadband services across the Asia Pacific region. The satellite was launched at the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan aboard an ILS Proton launch vehicle provided by International Launch Services. Its C-band service will cover 53 countries including Russia to parts of Africa, and it has two high-power fixed Ku-band beams over East Asia and South Asia, Loral Space and Communications said.

Satellite executives and government officials said they're hopeful a technology safeguard agreement signed July 20 between the U.S. and India will lead to a more open satellite market in India. The agreement allows the launch of civil or non-commercial satellites containing U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)-controlled components on Indian space launch vehicles. Hybrid commercial satellites containing non-commercial payloads will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, said the State Department.

The election of a German legislator to head the powerful European Parliament Industry Committee seems to have split Europe’s information and communication technology and e- communications industries. Telecom companies and ISPs fear that the chairman, Herbert Reul of the European People’s Party/Christian Democrats, will favor incumbent Deutsche Telekom, according to an ISP industry source. But DigitalEurope, the voice of the ICT industries, praised Reul’s experience in energy, climate-change and media issues, saying he'll understand technology opportunities.

Verizon Business inked a deal with Russian service provider Synterra during the week of the U.S.-Russian Presidential Summit, Verizon said. The agreement will allow Synterra customers in Russia to access the Verizon global communications network. Verizon also will leverage the Synterra network and send customer traffic to major cities throughout Russia.

SES Astra said it renewed contracts with BSkyB for 24 transponders on “a long-term basis” on Astra’s satellite at 28.2 degrees east. In total, Sky is using 31 transponders on the Astra satellite system. SatGate is also resuming its transmissions from SES Astra’s satellite at 31.5 degrees east, SES said. SatGate uses four transponders to provide broadband and Internet connectivity to Internet service providers and others in Eastern and Central Europe, Russia and the Middle East.

GENEVA -- Russia, Cuba and a group of African countries proposed Wednesday to include calling-party number delivery as a possible change in the International Telecommunication Regulations. But the U.S. called the number delivery an operational matter, inappropriate for a treaty. Russia said it isn’t simply an operational matter. Final action is possible at a 2012 ITU World Conference on International Telecommunications.

Iridium formed a company called “Iridium Communications Russia OOO” to pursue a license for providing MSS services in Russia. Iridium plans to exhibit and host a roundtable seminar Friday on “Mobile Satellite Services Market in Russia,” at Sviaz-Expocomm, Russia’s largest telecommunications industry trade show, it said.

The space industry has a “tenacious” ally on Capitol Hill to help it reform International Traffic in Arms Regulations, said Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, D-Md. “We have enough study,” he said at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics event about export control in space. “We have to move forward with some action.”

Global fixed broadband numbers are growing faster than expected in the economic downturn, driven by sustained high growth rates in developing countries, Point Topic analyst Tim Johnson said. He updated its ranking by number of broadband lines in 2013 to show China, the U.S., Japan, Germany, India, France, Brazil and the U.K. still in the lead. Russia and Mexico moved up to ninth and tenth places. China and the U.S. will account for more than 270 million broadband lines total by 2013, nearly 40 percent of the world’s installed base, he said. Johnson predicted the number of lines will rise to 695 million, instead of the 683 million forecast earlier. The small increase “hides the fact that broadband is having quite a difficult time,” he said. The previous prediction reduced the expected growth rates in most countries to take account of the just-beginning recession, he said. More recent data suggests a small but definite relationship between falling gross domestic product and below-trend growth in broadband, with GDP changes accounting for around 20 percent of the change in broadband numbers, he said. Twenty-two of the 40 nations surveyed saw growth rates drop below the expected trend in the second half of 2008, 14 had higher growth than predicted and four stayed the same, said Johnson. Those which “raced ahead” of forecasts are mostly late-comers to broadband such as Mexico, Peru, Vietnam and Brazil, he said.