WASHINGTON, Thursday, July 21, 2011 – The internet and intellectual property policy news and events service BroadbandBreakfast.com will co-sponsor the July 28, 2011 “Telecom 2018 Workshop” at Wiley Rein, 1776 K Street NW in Washington, DC.

The registration form and schedule for the free event is available at http://telecom2018.com

The workshop represents the first opportunity for policy and technical experts to weigh in on the draft recommendation by the FCC Technical Advisory Council to establish a date certain “sunset” of the PSTN.

The topic arises as nearly 50% of end users moved to wireline voice alternatives in the form of cellular or VoIP connections. The TAC argued for an establishing an orderly transition process rather than leave the process entirely to market forces. As a practical matter, this means adopting all IP networks for support of communication services. The capital and operational cost advantages led most carriers to displace traditional circuit switches with packet switches in the last five years, but almost all carrier to carrier interconnections utilize traditional circuit switches.

The morning workshop session will focus on identifying the planning issues that need to get addressed. In particular, the basic question of what it means to “turn off” the PSTN remains unanswered. The afternoon workshop session will focus on implementation ideas and identifying the opportunities associated with all IP networks.

Telecommunications advocates, policy-makers, journalists, top officials and the general public, all seeking to trade insights on these important issues, are invited to attend this event.

Speakers include:

Richard Wiley, Partner, Wiley Rein

Mr. Wiley heads the firm’s 80-attorney Communications Practice, the largest in the nation. As Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), he advocated increased competition and lessened regulation in the communications field. Mr. Wiley played a pivotal role in the development of HDTV in this country, serving for nine years as Chairman of the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service. He represents a number of major communications-oriented organizations, including Verizon, AT&T, Newspaper Association of America, Motorola, Viacom/CBS, Belo, Gannett, Sirius Satellite Radio, Emmis, Gray Television, LG and Toshiba America. Mr. Wiley also is a frequent author and lecturer on telecommunications and information law.

Tom Evslin, Partner, Evslin Consulting

Tom Evslin’s career has taken him from nerd to CEO to novelist and consultant with a brief stop as Vermont’s Transportation Secretary in the early 1980s. Tom served as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Recovery Officier for the State of Vermont. Tom was cofounder (with wife Mary), Chairman and CEO of ITXC Corp. The NASDAQ-listed company
grew from startup in 1997 to the world’s leading provider of wholesale VoIP and one of largest carriers of international voice minutes of any kind by 2004 when it was acquired. He conceived, launched, and ran AT&T’s first ISP, AT&T WorldNet Service. WorldNet popularized all-you-can-eat flatrate monthly pricing for Internet access and forced the rest of the industry, including AOL and MSN, to follow suit. At Microsoft, Tom was responsible for the server products now in Microsoft BackOffice including Microsoft Exchange and for Exchange’s predecessor Microsoft Mail. Tom went to Microsoft when key assets of Solutions, Inc. (a software company he founded and he and Mary ran) were sold to Microsoft. For many years Tom was Policy Chairman of the Voice on the Net Coalition and a member of the organization’s Board of Directors. His personal blog Fractals of Change is at blog.tomevslin.com.

Hank Hultquist, Vice President, Federal Regulatory, AT&T

Hank joined AT&T in 2004. He represents AT&T at the Federal Communications Commission on a number of issues including broadband and Internet policy, video and media policy, intercarrier compensation, and universal service. He is a member of the Board of Directors and of the Wireless Communications Association International and serves on the North American Numbering Council. Prior to joining AT&T, he was with MCI for eight years. Hank is a graduate of the George Mason University School of Law and the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He resides in Arlington, Virginia with his wife and two children.

The event will take place at the Wiley Rein Conference Center, 1776 K St. NW, Washington, DC 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m.

Pre-registration required via http://telecom2018.com

The Broadband Breakfast Club is sponsored by ICF International (ICFI), The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and US Telecom.

The Broadband Breakfast Club series meets on the third Tuesday of each month (except for August and December).

The Broadband Breakfast Club schedule can be viewed at http://broadbandbreakfastseries.eventbrite.com

For More Information Contact:

Sylvia Syracuse
Director of Marketing and Events
BroadbandBreakfast.com
Sylvia@broadbandcensus.com
646-262-4630