TIA Blog

The community of information and communication technology (ICT) manufacturers, vendors and suppliers that TIA represents realizes the potential that the Internet of Things (IoT) holds across all segments of the global economy and the improvements in countless aspects of consumers' and businesses' everyday activities.

The penetration of increasingly connected devices (via Internet adoption and faster mobile connections) and the availability of advanced computing capability with significant processing power has started to facilitate the growth of the IoT. In 2012, an estimated 8.7 billion things were connected worldwide — projections show that with the new technological capabilities this could grow to 50 billion by the year 2020, generating global revenues of $8.9 trillion by 2020.

With virtually any device becoming IoT-capable and with significantly increased analytics capability, government, consumers and businesses can make decisions that are more efficient and can develop new business models which maximize the value of data.

Most of, if not all, these topics are also increasingly impacted by the growing business opportunities, and related government concerns, of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications and the Internet of Things (IoT). For example, earlier in 2014, the United Kingdom's Office of Communications (the UK's communications industry regulator) issued a request for information seeking industry's views on the role the regulator should serve in realizing the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT), asking specific questions on a number of important policy topics, including spectrum management, network security, and the role of standards, among others, to which TIA submitted comments in October 2014. Within the U.S. (already by several Federal agencies) and across the globe, regulators are asking similar questions.

More recently, this is why TIA filed comments with the Italian telecommunications authority (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni [AGCOM]) in response to its public consultation requesting input on the factors that influence the development of M2M services, including growth potential and regulatory barriers to their development.

Representing the global community of ICT manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers, TIA described the incredible potential the IoT and M2M hold for positive innovations across all segments of the economy, and related improvements in countless aspects of consumers' and business' everyday activities across mobile, home, and industrial uses.

In our filing, TIA also urged AGCOM to prioritize the following as it develops its approach to the IoT and M2M communications:

• Competitive- and technology-neutral approaches to any activity that may impact the deployment of the IoT/M2M technologies and services is essential;
• AGCOM should recognize the importance of, and work to further, the use of global voluntary, open, and consensus-based standards for IoT and M2M technologies and services;
• AGCOM should employ a spectrum policy that enables the IoT by prioritizing predictability, flexibility, efficiency, and priority for superior rights from harmful interference;;
• When addressing data security and resilience, AGCOM should respect competitive differentiation as a driver of enhanced security solutions, rely on international standards and best practices, fully leverage the public-private partnership model, and prioritize end-user awareness and education; and;
• In addressing data privacy, AGCOM should ensure that its activities do no impose barriers that would discourage the use of existing and developing voluntary solutions that typically emerge from standardization and best practice development fora, as well as public-private partnerships.;

Our comments are available here (and in Italian here). Let us know what you think!