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NEWS

Mini-conference on spectrum policy and technology innovation

"Innovation, Technology and Spectrum Policy" is the subject of a mini-conference on 14 November at the George Mason Univerity Law School in Arlington, Virginia USA:

"The 21st Century is emerging as the Wireless Era. With over 2.5 billion cellular subscribers, global markets and national economies are being reshaped by innovative mobile services. The advent of wireless broadband now promises further advances.

"Yet radio spectrum - the key input into the wireless economy - continues to be parsimoniously dribbled out by regulators, allocated on administrative models of the 1920s. Each decision to make additional bandwidth available for the use of innovative technologies is subject to bureaucratic evaluation, process delays, and then often burdened (or buried) with numerous regulatory restrictions. Initiatives put forward to break through this gauntlet now include Municipal Wi-Fi systems and Reallocating TV Band Spectrum for unlicensed device use.

"This Mini-Conference considers these proposals, and others, in the search for pro-consumer spectrum policies.

2:15pm: KEYNOTE

• Dr. Irwin Mark Jacobs, Chairman of the Board, Qualcomm

3:00-4:15: Panel 1. MUNICIPAL WiFi: THE REALITY

• Coleman Bazelon, Analysis Group
• Dewayne Hendricks, CEO, Dandin Group
• Andrew Orlowski, The Register

4:15-5:30: Panel 2. TV BAND 'WHITE SPACE': TWO VIEWS

• Pierre de Vries, University of Southern California
• Thomas Hazlett, George Mason University
• Moderator: Andrew Kreig, Wireless Communications Association

"A reception (5:30-6:30pm) will follow the Mini-Conference in the Levy Atrium.

Venue: Room 322, George Mason University School of Law, 3301 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia [USA] (steps from the Virginia Square-GMU Metro - Orange Line). Admission is free, but seating is limited. To reserve your spot, please email Anil Caliskan, acaliska@gmu.edu..."

[Spectrum Policy 10 November 2006]