UN telecom chief 'surprised' by US-led treaty snub

[P F Tinmore]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Envoys from nearly 90 nations signed Friday the first new U.N. telecommunications treaty since the Internet age, but the U.S. and other Western nations refused to join after claiming it endorses greater government control over cyberspace.

More than 20 countries joined the U.S. on Friday in refusing to sign the protocols by the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union, or ITU, claiming it opens the door to greater government controls of the Net and could be used by authoritarian states to justify further crackdowns on cyberspace.

UN telecom chief 'surprised' by US-led treaty snub - Yahoo! News

 

[FA_Q2]

Good. The more the government stays out of the internet the more secure our freedoms are.

 

[TNHarley]

It surprised me too. Like REALLY surprised me.

 

[FA_Q2]

It surprised me too. Like REALLY surprised me.

I know right!

After the DCMA, I thought it was over and the troglodytes had won the digital war. With that and the MPAA/RIAA being supported in there arcane treatment of people's rights I never thought anyone would see the light.
One of the posters on another board recently pointed out to me that we are essentially the only nation where our rights are effectively overridden by EULA's. When it comes to the internet and digital realms our lawmakers are way behind the curve.

 

[waltky]

Goin's on in the telecom world...

Merger and acquisitions in telecoms, at a glance
Apr 15,`13 - The two largest wireless carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, have been trying to bolster their spectrum holdings, while the next largest, Sprint and T-Mobile USA, have been seeking to make alliances to compete better. Here's a look at the merger and acquisition activity in the telecommunications industry over the past year:

- June 26, 2012: Verizon Wireless agrees to sell some airwave rights to T-Mobile and swap others.

- Aug. 2: AT&T Inc. announces three deals aimed at boosting its spectrum holdings. They are with Comcast Corp., NextWave Wireless Inc. and Horizon Wi-Com.

- Aug. 24: A consortium of cable companies sell their spectrum holdings to Verizon Wireless for $3.6 billion.

- Oct. 3: T-Mobile USA's parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany, agrees to buy MetroPCS Communications Inc. and merge T-Mobile into it.

- Oct. 11: Japan's Softbank Corp. agrees to pay $20.1 billion for 70 percent of Sprint Nextel Corp., providing a much-needed cash boost for the struggling carrier.

- Nov. 11: Sprint Nextel Corp. agrees to buy some U.S. Cellular Corp. service areas in the Midwest for $480 million.

- Dec. 13: Sprint agrees to buy out the minority shareholders of wireless network operator Clearwire Corp., of which it already owns a majority.

- Jan. 8, 2013: Dish Network Corp. offers to buy Clearwire for $5.15 billion, but Sprint says it's not willing to sell.

- Jan. 22: AT&T agrees to buy remnants of the Alltel network for $780 million.

- Jan. 25: Verizon Wireless agrees to sell some spectrum rights to AT&T for $1.9 billion and swap some others.

- April 11: T-Mobile USA sweetens the offer for MetroPCS after resistance from MetroPCS shareholders.

- Monday: Dish makes an offer for Sprint in an attempt to snag it away from Softbank. Dish offers $25.5 billion in cash and stock.

Source

See also:

Dish Network offering to buy Sprint in $25.5B deal
Apr 15,`13 -- Dish Network Corp. is trying to snag U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel away from a Japanese suitor, the latest sign that satellite dishes are losing their relevance in the age of cellphones that play everything from YouTube videos to live TV.

Dish offered $25.5 billion in cash and stock on Monday for Sprint, which Dish says beats an offer from Japan's Softbank Corp. If the Dish deal goes through, it would create a unique combination of pay-TV and wireless operator. Dish's hope is that it would lure customers with the promise of a TV service that they can take with them out of the house, on their phones. It has already broken ranks with the pay-TV industry by providing a set-top box that can send recorded shows to iPads. "You want to be in your home with video, broadband, and data, and voice, and you want to be outside your home with those same things," said Charlie Ergen, Dish's executive chairman. "And while the cable industry does a really good job in your home, and the current wireless industry does a really good job outside your home, there's really no one company on a national scale that puts it all together. The new Dish-Sprint will do that."

Sprint Nextel Corp.'s stock jumped on the news, as investors anticipated a bidding war between Dish and Softbank. Sprint had accepted the Softbank offer and was expecting to close on it this summer. Sprint, the country's third-largest cellphone carrier, said it would evaluate Dish's offer. For years, Dish has been able to grow rapidly by luring cable TV subscribers with better deals. But its subscriber numbers have been flat for the past three years. Unlike TV cables, satellite dishes aren't good conduits for Internet access. That means that Dish and larger rival DirecTV have been left behind in the rush to connect homes to broadband, while cable has been able to retain customers by offering TV, Internet and phone bundles.

Ergen has been looking for a way into the wireless world to counter that. Dish has been buying space on the airwaves, so-called spectrum rights, for cellphone service or wireless broadband. But the Englewood, Colo., company has been repeatedly rebuffed in its efforts to partner with cellphone companies to put its spectrum to use. "People have generally blown him off and not taken him seriously," technology consultant Tim Farrar said. "This is really saying `We are serious.'"

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