Here’s what’s new with AZWA.

Submitted on March 2009, 02:51 pm by John Stevens

Thank you to Ginnie Ann Sumner, AZ Wireless Association’s Regulatory Chair, and T-Mobile for their efforts on the Phoenix Wireless Text Amendment.

In June of 2007 representatives from the Arizona Wireless Association met with Debra Stark, Phoenix Planning Director, and Elizabeth DeMichael, Zoning Administrator. As a result of that meeting, carrier and wireless representatives met almost bi-weekly to develop a wireless text amendment with the goals of:

Placing all wireless in one section rather than throughout the various zoning districts
Creating a faster approval process
Developing guidelines that will remain consistent and equally applied by staff

In addition to working with staff, the representatives met with neighborhood leaders. On August 13, 2008 the Planning Commission voted to initiate the wireless text amendment.

T-Mobile sponsored the creation of a PowerPoint presentation that included an education component to help the committees, citizens, and elected officials understand how wireless works and why sites are selected.

The proposed text amendment was presented to each of the Village Planning Committees, the Planning Commission, and then to the City Council for final approval on March 4, 2009.

GREAT WORK!!

Submitted on February 2009, 08:06 pm by John Stevens

The Utilities Wireless Collocation Summit 2009 will be held from 03/04/2009 through 03/06/2009 at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley, San Diego, CA

UtiliSite Council is an organization of utilities that offers a wide variety of support services for commercial wireless carriers including antenna sitings, traffic backhaul and construction.

Submitted on 2 July 2009, 8:25 am by Fierce Wireless

Although the latest incarnation of the iPhone launched less than two weeks ago, it appears Apple is wasting no time in applying for patents for technology that it could add to future iPhone models. According to the website MacRumors.com, Apple is researching haptic display technologies, which would allow for tactile feedback on the iPhone's touchscreen--thereby countering a gripe against the device. Additional patents point to fingerprint identification technology and RFID tag readers in touchscreens. Article

Submitted on 2 July 2009, 8:18 am by Fierce Wireless

The Obama administration released grant guidelines for the government's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package Wednesday, and the rules call for net neutrality provisions to be applied to grant winners. The stipulations may deter wireless companies wary of complying with the rules.

Grant winners will have to follow the FCC's 2005 Internet Policy statement, which prohibits companies from deliberately blocking or slowing a competitor's Internet traffic. Grant winners must "not favor any lawful Internet applications and content over others," the rules state. FCC commissioner Michael Copps has said that those rules apply to wireless companies. The new FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, has not yet given his opinion on the issue. Public interest groups, including Free Press, applauded the net neutrality efforts.

Wireless trade group CTIA said it was still reviewing the guidelines and had no comment, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, given the group's previous comments on the matter, it's clear the inclusion of net neutrality provisions come as a blow.

In comments filed in April to both the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service, CTIA said that net neutrality rules "should be applied to broadband stimulus grantees within the context of its existing parameters, and not more broadly."

"Wireless networks are inherently different than the networks for which the [net neutrality] policy statement was developed," CTIA said. "The underlying network infrastructure, including spectrum, as well as the integration of the customer equipment, make wireless significantly different than other broadband networks."

For more:
- see this WSJ blog post
- see the broadband stimulus grant guidelines