U.S. trade policy continues to lag behind Internet-related developments in global trade, and the U.S. should adjust its trade approach more for services as that sector grows at a quick pace, said the Computer and Communications Industry Association in comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. USTR asked for comments in mid-August to compile its annual report on foreign trade barriers. "The Internet has been the single biggest component of the cross border trade in services, with many of those services facilitating the international goods trade as well,” said CCIA in the comments released Wednesday night. “To protect U.S. economic interests, U.S. trade policy needs to prioritize addressing barriers to the Internet and Internet enabled services, given their key role in the U.S. economy and U.S. export growth.” Digital trade is inhibited by global Internet infrastructure mandates for local production, filtering and blocking of online material, and poor intellectual property protections, the CCIA said. Customs procedures and small shipment tariffs are also obstacles, said the association. Several lawmakers recently asked the USTR to work to ease cross-border data flows (see 1410280026).

Colombia’s National Spectrum Agency is on the right track in announcing its intention to allocate an additional 25 MHz of spectrum for wireless services, 4G Americas said in a news release Tuesday. The spectrum Colombia will offer is 5 MHz in the 900 MHz band, and 20 MHz at 1.9 GHz. Colombia has 49 million mobile subscribers out of the 714 million subscribers in the Latin America region, the group said.

Recent congressional pressure to ease cross-border data flows has the potential to fuel economic growth and job generation in the U.S., said the Telecommunications Industry Association Monday. Four senators urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Friday to remove data flow restrictions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (see 1410270005). "The ability to send commercial data across borders with minimal unnecessary restrictions is vital for U.S. businesses of all sizes and all sectors that conduct business here in the United States and around the world,” said the TIA. “A great example is how e-commerce has rapidly become the way that U.S. small businesses access global markets to expand their exports.” Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, alongside Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., had sent the letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation ranked 125 countries on the amount of taxes and duties applied to information and communications technology goods, said ITIF in a report released Monday. Thirty-one countries impose taxes and duties that exceed 5 percent on ICT products, and Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Iran and Turkey are considered the “worst offenders,” said the ITIF. Governments frequently use ICT tariffs "in the mostly vain pursuit of protecting domestic industries" even though "when businesses face extra costs for importing goods, this gets reflected in their subsequent export price -- hurting their competitive position," ITIF said. Goods in the ICT sector are also seen by governments as an easy source of tax revenue because the products are considered as more of a luxury, it said. "These added costs limit ICT adoption and the productivity increases associated with it," it said. "If countries resist the temptation to impose excess taxes on ICT goods and services and eliminate ICT tariffs, they will reap the benefits in broader digital adoption by businesses and consumers, leading to faster economic growth and increased quality of life." The ITIF has spearheaded for years expansion of the Information Technology Agreement. Parties to the ITA, which total in the dozens, haven’t broadened the list of duty exempt products since the agreement’s 1996 inception, despite many IT industry developments.

The ITU Plenipotentiary shouldn’t “initiate or authorize a treaty-making process or otherwise develop binding agreements on international security or cybersecurity,” said Danielle Kriz, Information Technology Industry Council global cybersecurity policy director, in a blog post Sunday. The ITU “lacks the expertise to deal with many technical and legal matters, including cybersecurity and cybercrime,” she said. The plenipotentiary should “oppose” any expansion of the ITU Standards Bureau into “new areas of cybersecurity standardization” and should avoid efforts to have the bureau partner with other standard development organizations, said Kriz. ITU member countries elected Houlin Zhao of China as the ITU’s new secretary-general last week (see 1410240047). Zhao will take over as secretary general Jan. 1.

The election of China’s Houlin Zhao as ITU secretary-general was applauded by ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade, in an ICANN news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1DFCco4). Zhao’s support was “punctuated by the fact that he obtained 152 votes of the 156 countries that were present and voting in the election,” he said. Chehade said he has a "shared belief" with Zhao’s predecessor, Hamadoun Toure, that the "Internet has an increasingly important role in global socioeconomic development ... We are enthused at the prospect of continuing those efforts with Houlin Zhao." Zhao will take over Jan. 1, when Toure's term ends.

The Advanced Media Workflow Association disclosed changes in its membership, in written notifications filed with the U.S. attorney general and the FTC, said a Justice Department notice in Wednesday's Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1ylmueC). Canon U.S.A., Swedish companies Vizrt and Kista, and John Fleming of Australia were added to the organization, while EMC, Encompass, The Weather Co., Andreas Georg Stasheit of Germany and Jone Lee of South Korea withdrew from the association, the notice said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Industry Canada Senior Assistant Deputy Minister Kelly Gillis signed an agreement that will allow public safety officials in both countries to use handheld radios when they cross the border, the FCC said Tuesday. The agreement expands on a 1952 treaty that allowed only for cross-border use of radios installed in public safety vehicles, the FCC said. The new agreement also allows a public safety official to operate a radio across the border without a permit provided the official is licensed in his country of origin, the FCC said (http://bit.ly/ZMWUDj).

The Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) completed its auction of 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum licenses Monday, EETT said. All three Greek carriers, Cosmote, Vodafone and Wind Hellas, bought spectrum, said a release from the regulator (http://bit.ly/1wA1QpH). The highest prices were paid for the 800 MHz spectrum blocks. All three carriers bought a single 2 x 5 MHz block for just over 51.5 million euros. Bidding lasted 10 rounds.

The European Commission freed two markets in the telecom industry from regulation. The retail market for access to fixed telephony and the wholesale market for fixed call origination were deregulated due to a decrease in volume of fixed calls as customers have turned to alternative solutions and providers, said the EU Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1yb0kyv). Customers who still use fixed telephony “are now able to purchase fixed access from a number of different platforms,” like fiber or cable networks, it said. The EC also redefined two broadband markets “to limit regulatory burdens to what is strictly necessary for competitive broadband access and investment,” it said. The new rules recognize that “virtual access products” can be considered substitutes to physical unbundling when they fulfill certain characteristics, it said.