AT&T’s U-Verse TV service is meeting the company’s expectations and proving popular with subscribers where it’s available, John Stankey, group president of the company’s telecom business, told a Merrill Lynch conference Wednesday. While Stankey didn’t comment on the 700 MHz auction, he said the company’s acquisition of spectrum from Aloha Partners puts AT&T in a strong position as it rolls out advanced wireless services. “We're having good success in the market,” Stankey said of U-Verse. He estimated that the video market in AT&T’s territory is worth $35 billion annually.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
The FCC is denying requests for hearing aid compatibility waivers filed on behalf of about 20 small- and medium-sized carriers, in an item circulating on the eighth floor of the commission. The carriers face tens of thousands of dollars in fines after failing to meet a requirement that they offer to their customers two compliant handsets by Sept. 16, 2006. A carrier that offers both CDMA and GSM service had to offer two handsets for each.
Sprint Nextel accused AT&T of “flouting” the 2006 order approving the AT&T-BellSouth merger after the Bell sought a declaratory ruling in an interconnection dispute (CD Feb 8 p9). Sprint has tried to extend to other states an interconnection agreement with AT&T in Kentucky, under a merger condition allowing such agreements to be “ported.”
Qwest seeks a wireless partner for a relationship that goes beyond the company’s deal with Sprint Nextel, Qwest CEO Ed Mueller said Monday at the company’s analyst meeting. Qwest, unlike AT&T and Verizon, has no wireless subsidiary. Mueller is working hard to address this shortcoming, which he sees as key to cutting customer churn, he said. Qwest will have an answer “fast,” since “this isn’t something we'll need a lot of study on,” he said.
Little 700 MHz auction bidding remains active except for the E-block, spectrum that would be ideally suited for video broadcast to cellphones. Sources said Qualcomm is probably the most active bidder, but at least one carrier seems to be challenging Qualcomm in some markets. Tom Peters of Wireless Strategy said the E block has been the spectrum to watch for several weeks, since the high bids on several of the largest blocks were made in Round 37.
CTIA and Sprint Nextel told the FCC it must reject a petition by South Seas Broadcasting, filing as an affected consumer, asking that rate integration be expanded to cover wireless carriers for calls between the U.S. mainland and American Samoa. CTIA said the FCC and courts have established a clear precedent that wireless carriers should not be subject to such wireline rules.
Verizon Wireless struck back at opponents of the company’s proposed acquisition of Rural Cellular Corp. (CD Feb 13 p5). The carrier told the FCC that the $2.67 billion deal would mean “superior service quality, a wider variety of handsets, seamless national coverage, improved customer care” and “a broad menu of service plans” for subscribers converted to Verizon’s network.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency warned the FCC that though FEMA has authority over emergency alerts from the president, it lacks power over warnings by state and local authorities. In a letter this week, FEMA asked the FCC to hold off choosing a federal agency to oversee alerts to cellphones. FEMA also warned that Congress may need to pass legislation allowing a federal agency to take charge.
The FCC got a “wake-up call” when the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the agency to explain its failure to review fully the environmental impact of 6,000 Gulf Coast communications towers before granting them licenses, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said Wednesday in a statement. Wireless industry officials said the ruling’s impact is yet to be seen (CD Feb 20 p2). “For years, I have been disappointed with the FCC’s failure to get serious about its environmental responsibilities,” Copps said. “Now the D.C. Circuit has affirmed something this agency should have acknowledged a long time ago: that the National Environmental Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act require the FCC to take a hard look at the effects of communications towers on migratory birds.” The FCC must live by federal environmental law, Copps said. “This means more than just checking the boxes required by the statutes -- it means taking a thorough look at whether our rules and practices contribute to millions of needless bird deaths,” he said. The American Bird Conservancy, meanwhile, which sued the agency, said the decision will force the FCC to assess towers’ environmental impact. “Given the large number of bird deaths caused by towers, an environmental review is long overdue,” the group said. “This is a huge victory for migratory birds and the millions of Americans who love to see them each year.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that five million to fifty million birds die each year from collisions and other accidents caused by communications towers.
The FCC’s likely failure to find a bidder for the 700 MHz D-block to build a national public safety broadband network may mark the end of a flawed concept, said John Kneuer of Rivada Networks. Rivada and other system integrators believe the preferred solution would be public safety operations riding on existing networks in a variety of bands, the former NTIA administrator said in an interview.