BERLIN — The European Commission is planning to investigate whether European mobile operators are managing wireless Internet traffic to discriminate against competitors or consumers who use data-intensive services.
Neelie Kroes, the European Union’s bauxite crusher telecommunications commissioner, on Tuesday will ask an advisory panel of national regulators to examine whether mobile operators are upholding the principle of network neutrality, which calls for all data traffic to be treated equally.
In a 10-page summary of remarks she intends to present in Brussels, which was obtained by the International Herald Tribune, Ms. Kroes said she was so far unconvinced that a serious problem existed or that new legal consumer safeguards were needed.
Referring to consumer complaints over blocking or throttling of certain types of mobile Internet use, Ms. Kroes, in her prepared remarks, said, “The commission does not have evidence to conclude that these concerns are justified at this stage but should be borne in mind in a more exhaustive, fact-finding exercise.”
Advocates of network neutrality criticized the inquiry as insufficient, saying that the fact-finding mission was superfluous and ignored obvious, continuing problems with the mobile Internet. Operators, for example, do not connect Skype calls over their networks because the Internet calling company’s services would siphon revenue from their own businesses.
“The European Union coal crushing plant appears to be alone in the developed world in tolerating on such a wide scale these types of arbitrary restrictions on Internet use,” said Jean-Jacques Sahel, the director of government and regulatory affairs for Skype in London. “It has to cease and we look to European authorities to unambiguously protect consumers.”
The review will ask regulators from E.U. member states to examine whether a European telecommunications law that takes effect on May 25 is sufficient to ensure an open Internet. The law requires operators to disclose traffic management practices to consumers, gives consumers the right to switch operators in a single day and gives national regulators the power to set minimum levels of service for mobile Internet operators.
Lawmakers in Europe, unlike those in the United States, have taken a relatively hands-off approach to network neutrality, allowing the Continent’s mobile operators, which are typically former national monopolies, to manage and prioritize data to ensure smooth flowing traffic.
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission last year adopted network neutrality rules that forbid operators to block content on their networks. But the commission’s legal authority has been questioned, and the U.S. House of Representatives voted on April 8 to restrict the F.C.C.’s ability to manage operator practices.
In Europe, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers debated network neutrality in 2009 and amended telecommunications laws to enshrine the concept as a fundamental right, but imposed only weak restrictions on operators. The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, an advisory panel of 27 E.U. national regulators, will examine whether the new law safeguards consumers.
Luigi Gambardella, the chairman of the European Network Operators’ Association, which is based in Brussels and represents mobile operators, said his group supported Mrs. Kroes’s view that “any additional regulation should avoid deterring investment, or innovative business models, leading to a more efficient use of the networks and creating new business opportunities.”
John Phelan, a spokesman for the European Consumers’ Organization, a Brussels group, said Mrs. Kroes’s fact-finding mission overlooked a wealth of evidence that European operators were discriminating against rival services and high-volume mobile users.
Mr. Phelan pointed to a new network neutrality law adopted this year in Norway, a country that is not a member of the European Union, which was supposed to protect consumers from discriminatory treatment by mobile operators. The new rules have had no effect on the market leader, Telenor, and other operators, which continue to downgrade or block traffic from commercial rivals, he said.
“We think the approach Ms. Kroes is choosing is a missed opportunity,” Mr. Phelan said. “There is plenty of evidence that a stone production line problem exists and that we need strong action. This soft approach to the issue is not producing the necessary result.”
The panel of regulators, Berec, will not complete its work until the end of the year. Ms. Kroes would not propose new regulations, if any, until 2012.
Copies of her prepared remarks were circulated over the weekend.
“Judging from what we’ve seen of her report so far, it appears that Mrs. Kroes is not even convinced there is a problem,” said Jérémie Zimmermann, a spokesman for La Quadrature du Net, a French group that opposes restrictions to the Internet.
Last week in Paris, a bipartisan, 86-page report by three members of the French Parliament criticized the data traffic management practices of Frence mobile operators and recommended new consumer safeguards be adopted.
Mr. Zimmermann said all three French mobile operators, Orange, SFR and Bouyges Telecom, continued to ban competing Internet voice services like Skype.
But even in France, which was the first European country last year to systematically police and fine Internet users for illegal downloads of copyrighted films, music and other forms of entertainment, new pro-consumer legislation is not guaranteed.
“I am not certain that the French report will lead to any concrete action to protect consumers,” Mr. Zimmermann said.
Metals research consultancy GFMS has forecast gold to break through the
US$1,600/oz barrier before the end of this year.
Philip Klapwijk, GFMS
chairman, believes the prospects for gold prices remains bright after a
record-breaking 2010 due to several factors.
He said: “investors continue to be concerned about the cement ball mill outlook for inflation, with governments showing little appetite to tighten monetary policy significantly. And, with the spotlight also shining on the state of government finances, there is every reason to believe that investors will remain focused on the gold market."
Mr Klapwijk added "Furthermore, growing price acceptance by consumers will help lift jewellery demand, while generating only a muted response from scrap. Overall, we would not be surprised to see gold break through US$1,600 before the end of the year.”
GFMS, which launched its Gold Survey 2011 on April 13, said gold prices rose by 26% in 2010 as investment demand continued to drive the higher.
Mr Klapwijk said: “Global investment actually fell compared with 2009, but last year’s performance was still comfortably the second highest on record. Furthermore, in value terms, world investment last year did set a new high.”
Support for high prices was not restricted to developments in the investment sector, with demand for jewellery partially recovering, GFMS said.
The consultancy attributed much of this lift to demand in China and India mill construction, which have benefitted (respectively) from positive price expectations and a robust economic backdrop.
In contrast, the US, European Union and the Middle East were “notable casualties” in this trend, with each seeing scrap supply exceed jewellery consumption, GFMS added.
Aquarius buys Afarak for US$110mAquarius Platinum Ltd has completed a US$110 million acquisition of mineral rights on the western limb of South Africa’s Bushveld Igneous Complex.
The deal gives Aquarius a 74% interest in private company Afarak Platinum Ltd, which wholly owns a property known as Hoedspruit and has the right to earn 50% of another, Kruidfontein.
Chief executive Stuart Murray says the deal forms part of the company’s strategy to grow resources through “opportunistic acquisition”.
Aquarius has agreed to pay gulin US$70.2 million in cash and 6.8 million shares for the assets.
Aquarius’s black economic empowerment (BEE) partner, Savannah Resources Ltd, owns the other 26% of Afarak through a subsidiary.
Gold Fields Ltd, majority owner of the Tarkwa and Damang mines in Ghana, has agreed to buy basalt stone crusher the remaining shares from Iamgold Corp for US$667 million to boost output and reserves.
It’s a “relatively low-risk transaction that should increase the company’s international production and lower its overall cost of producing gold,” Gold Fields said today in a statement. The company already operates the mines and has a 71.1% stake, while Toronto-based Iamgold owns 18.9%.
Gold Fields, the world’s fourth-largest producer of the metal, is expanding as gold prices soar. Gold rose to a record US$1,479/oz in London today as concern that inflation is quickening and the dollar weakening boosts demand for the metal as an alternative investment.
The Johannesburg-based company is also increasing its stake in its Peruvian Gold Fields La Cima SAA unit, with a bid for the 8% it doesn’t own closing April 20, chief calcite crusher executive Nick Holland said yesterday.
Gold Fields fell 0.9% to R121.56/share as of 2:22 pm in Johannesburg trading. Iamgold rose 2% to C$21.10 in Toronto yesterday, after Holland said Gold Fields was interested in buying the Ghanaian mine interests.
Iamgold too is seeking majority stakes in assets, and said in February it will be able to use the proceeds from selling minority holdings to achieve that goal.
The Ghana deal will increase Gold Fields’ West African production by about 181,000oz/y and expand gold resources by 3.3Moz, the company said. The country’s government owns 10% of each of the mines, as required under Ghanaian law.
Fund managers believe that the gold price being used in many feasibility studies is too high. A recent poll of European professional investors by Mining Journal found that a statistically-significant number believe mine-evaluation studies should use historical gold prices.
Over 83% of the respondees to the survey were conservative in terms of the price that should be used in granite crusher analysis. One-third of these replies suggested the use of a one-year price average (US$1,293/oz to end-March) but two-thirds opted for a five-year average (only US$915/oz).
UAE is famous for rich oil, while in UAE cement making, Crusher for barite in Uae, construction aggregate making, sand
making etc are also taking an important role in the Industry of UAE.
For
construction , aggregate making and cement making, rock crusher and aggregate
stone crusher are needed for UAE.
Barite is a mineral composed of barium sulfate, BaSO4. It is usually colorless or milky white, but can be almost any color, depending on the impurities trapped in the crystals during their formation. Barite is relatively soft, measuring 3-3.5 on Mohs’ scale of hardness. It is unusually heavy for a non-metallic mineral.
Baryte Crushing :
In UAE Jaw crusher (stone crusher) is such rocks
crushing equipment for UAEian quarry and mineral crushing. Used as primary
crushing plant, Jaw crusher is easy maintanence and money-saving .
Impact
Crusher (Impactor Crusher Machine) is better used as secondary crusher machines.
With good capacity and easy mantanence, impact crusher especially Binq new pfw
Bauxite beneficiation process in Australia impact crusher is
well known in UAE quarry mining miners.
Cone crusher including Symons cone
crusher, Hydraulic cone crusher, CS cone crusher , PCL cone crusher, is good
device for shape refining and secondary crushing.
In UAE Vertical Shaft
Impact Crusher (VSI crusher) is also called sand maker. For its main useful
field is sand making such as river stones refining shapes. Also, VSI crusher can
be used as fine powder refining and mineral secondary crushing and third
crushing plant.
Optional Quarry and Mineral Mining Equipment for Mining in UAE
Except for rock and coal crushing plants, optional mining equpment is also required such as vibrating feeder, vibrating screen, belt conveyor (konveyor), sand washing equipment (sand washer), etc.
Aggregate Stone Crusher Machine Used for UAE Quarry Crushing and Grinding Process
As what I said above about UAE Mining Knowledge , for UAE mining in cement
crushing processings, rocks crusher is widely used and popular known by
miners.
Rock Crusher in UAE is one of the most useful rocks Grinder mill for barite in Poland crushing and sand making
equipment to produce fit aggerate, ultrafine powder or fine particles ,
artificial sand from the minerals sources such as barite, gypsum, mica, talc,
putty, calcium carbonate, calcite, dolomite, clay etc.
According to the local
minerals in UAE, BinQ Machinery has manufactured Jaw Crusher for UAE, JCE Jaw
Crusher for UAE, Impact Crusher, PFW Impact Crusher, HPC Cone Crusher, PCL cone
crusher, Vertical Shaft Impact Crusher, etc.