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To: DaveMG who wrote (19239)	12/7/1998 4:16:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Not Good> news \| opinion \| letters \| contact us \| calendar \| submit \| staff info Issued on December 07, 1998 D.C. NOTES By Jeffrey Silva The National League of Cities, which just wrapped up its 75th annual meeting in Kansas City, boasts to members of forcing the withdrawal of the cellular industry's petition before the FCC seeking to pre-empt local zoning moratoria; defeating a proposed presidential executive order on federalism; delaying efforts to permit unilateral federal control over siting wireless facilities on federal property; securing 24 megahertz of broadcast spectrum for state and local emergency communications; and filing amicus briefs on behalf of cities and towns with the Supreme Court and circuit courts of appeal seeking to protect local authority in areas ranging from wireless communications to railroads to crime. Now, dues-paying members of CTIA and PCIA, can your beer do that? No doubt, the wireless industry believes NLC's railroading of the Tauzin-McCain E911 federal land antenna-siting bill was a crime. But don't look to Vice President Gore, who addressed the NLC last Friday, for help. The veep's not about to rock the boat with mayors and county commissioners over antenna siting. Why, he's busy pulling together his 2000 presidential campaign team. Speaking of which, seems those advising Gore have pressing business—some involving wireless telecom—before the federal government. Take ex-Gore domestic policy adviser Greg Simon, who lobbies for wireless and other telecom sectors these days. Simon, who arranged a key White House meeting with MCHI representatives on a big LEO license that's under investigation by an independent counsel, told Associated Press reporter Jonathan D. Salant last week that lobbying and Gore advice-giving are kept separate. Also in Gore's orbit is Peter Knight, a lobbyist implicated in the Portals probe and various campaign finance investigations. Knight ran the '96 Clinton-Gore campaign and supposedly is in the running for Gore 2000 campaign chairman. Then there's Roy Neel, president of the United States Telephone Association and a former Gore chief of staff. (It hasn't helped the firmly entrenched Baby Bells enter the long-distance market.) Not to be overlooked is none other than Tom Downey, a former New York Dem congressman who does the bidding for L.M. Ericsson in the nation's capital. (Some predict his close ties to Gore's camp will keep the U.S. from ultimately taking serious action against the EU for locking out CDMA technology.) The campaign finance stuff would be old hat had it not been incorporated into the House's impeachment inquiry last week. Speaking of scandal, more fireworks on alleged U.S.-China technology transfers. Lt. Col. Al Coates, who after 29 years quit the Air Force out of frustration with the lack of U.S. government support in monitoring American satellite firms in China, told ABC 20/20's Chris Wallace the administration ignored numerous reports of infractions by Hughes Electronics Co. and others that Coates believes compromised national security. Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.), chairman of the select House panel on high-tech exports to China, will submit a classified report to Congress Jan. 2. The redacted version is expected to be public in February. VIEWPOINT By Tracy Ford Get ready, the wireless world as we know it is going to change—again. When we look back at 1998 in wireless to see which announcements impacted the industry, it may very well be the recent alliances in wireless data were the yeast that caused the wireless data bread to rise. But the rise of wireless data very well could change how operators and vendors function, so say experts. Carriers and vendors traditionally have been partners in directing the future of wireless services. It sounds like they will give up some of that control in exchange for growth in the wireless data industry. The Internet is changing the world. Pick up a consumer newspaper and within a week, you will find an article about online shopping this holiday season. The terms e-commerce and I-commerce are starting to become more familiar as Generation X redefines shopping into something done less at the mall and more on the keyboard. Barnes & Noble is featuring its virtual bookstore in its advertising this season. MasterCard also is jumping onboard. Its holiday advertising features a mother playing with the kids at home, shopping online, instead of running to stores. So as the explosion in wireless data launches, the wireless industry should be prepared for a little less control over an emerging marketplace. Jane Zweig, an executive at research company Herschel Shosteck Associates Ltd., predicts, ‘‘Competing infrastructures, participants and technologies from the three network industries—wireless, landline and the Internet—will eventually destroy traditional views of wireless.'' ‘‘Applications in the future wireless market will be defined by corporate users and the Internet—not by network operators or terminal manufacturers ... In the traditional wireless model, the network operator largely controlled the end user—in terminal sales, distribution channels, value services, (and) tariffs, to name a few. ‘Ownership of the customer' will be the first concept to die in the new wireless world,'' Zweig commented. Wow. Another paradigm shift. Who'd have thunk it? Copyright 1998, all rights reserved. Please report problems to webmaster.rcr@inlet.com December 7, 1998 rcrnews.com