TIA and USITO Bring Together Tech and Government Leaders from China and the U.S. to Discuss Critical Spectrum Issues

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 6 -- On Wednesday, September 5, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the leading association representing the manufacturers and suppliers of high-tech communications networks, with the United States Information Technology Office (USITO), brought together top government officials from China and the United States, along with leading technology companies, for a first-of-its-kind discussion about some of the most critical spectrum-related policy issues in the ICT industry.

The U.S.-China Spectrum Roundtable, which was developed and run by TIA and USITO, and sponsored by Cisco and Motorola Mobility, featured a high profile Chinese delegation, led by Xie Feibo, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) State Radio Regulatory Committee Director General. The delegation, representing all major Chinese spectrum regulatory authorities, also included the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT), Ministry of Defense, and the State Radio Monitoring Center.

The U.S. government representative contingent was comprised of officials from the Department of Commerce, including Robin R. Layton, Director of the Department's Office of Technology and Electronic Commerce (OTEC) and LiChing Sung of the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA), along with other key U.S. government agency representatives such as Jonathan McHale, Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative, and Margaret Lancaster, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) International Bureau Assistant Chief. Other representatives from OTEC and the International Trade Administration also joined in the event.

From the industry perspective, Dean Brenner, Vice President, Government Affairs for Qualcomm, Inc. and Mary Brown, Director of Government Affairs for Cisco led presentations during the roundtable event. Combined with a presentation from Routing Chang of MIIT's Bureau of Radio Regulation, attendees heard presentations on a range of international spectrum policy-related topics, including:

  • Maximizing spectrum for wireless broadband

  • China's national broadband and spectrum development strategies

  • U.S. and global best practices for 5GHz spectrum