Public Policy How Intel promotes innovation worldwide

Intel Public Policy Communications & Broadband Intel promotes communications policies that encourage the deployment of wireless and wired broadband services so that consumers and businesses worldwide can reap the benefits of new information technologies. Background Increased broadband deployment will benefit consumers and businesses in society at large. Intel believes that a revolutionary convergence of the computation and communications industries is well under way. Soon all computers will communicate and all communications devices will compute. Intel seeks to accelerate that convergence through silicon-based integration. Rapid improvements in microprocessors are making possible radios that are smarter and more flexible. In the not-too-distant future, any device that might benefit from being able to communicate will likely have a radio (or multiple radios) designed into it. Low-cost, small form factors like ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) and mobile Internet devices (MIDs)–such as Intel’s embedded Wi-Fi/WiMAX combination solutions for broadband services–will be ubiquitous. Government communications policies should enable—not impede—this broadband revolution. Improvements in spectrum management and broadband access could significantly promote technical innovation, foster competition, and benefit consumers worldwide. Key Issues Market-based spectrum policies. To make affordable and high-quality global broadband deployment a reality, Intel supports widespread adoption of market- based spectrum policies that allow carriers and manufacturers to make market-driven agreements to deploy WiMAX and other efficient new technologies. Global harmonization of spectrum. Intel advocates global harmonization of spectrum allocations for new services on a technology-neutral and market-based basis, as well as the clearing of underutilized spectrum for new, more valuable services. 1 Key Issues (continued) Broadband investment and competition. Intel supports policies that promote investment and competition in the broadband marketplace, such as those that foster advanced network deployment and facilities-based competition and create a minimal regulatory environment for VoIP and other IP-enabled services. Universal service/access for broadband. In order to help bridge the “digital divide,” Intel promotes policies that expand the allocation of universal service/access funds beyond basic telephony to include broadband access, especially in remote regions where broadband access thus far has been cost-prohibitive. 2