Of 72 stimulus proposals sent by federal officials to Maine’s Broadband Strategy Council for review, only 19 were specific to state broadband needs, Gov. John Baldacci told the NTIA. A plan sponsored by Broadband for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, while reaching beyond state boundaries, has “notable” merit, Baldacci said in his Oct. 14 letter. The Maine council recommended that NTIA fund several infrastructure projects whose total value slightly exceeds $38 million. They are last-mile plans by FairPoint Communications in Aroostook, Washington and Hancock counties, a project by Chebeague Net on Chebeague Island and the “Three Ring Binder” middle-mile project by Biddeford Internet dba GWI. Maine reviewers endorsed two sustainable adoption plans whose total value is nearly $3.5 million: FairPoint’s Broadband with a Purpose Maine and a WiMAX project in Washington County sponsored by Axiom Technologies. The NTIA should fund the state library system’s proposal for a public computer center project valued at slightly more than $1.2 million, reviewers said.
MONTREUX, Switzerland -- A complex and rapidly changing technological landscape demands a more strategic approach to European telecom policy development, said Thomas Ewers, chairman of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) group working on electronic communications. Officials at CEPT’s annual conference this week said CEPT aims to boost its policy work and decision-making, but no action will be taken this week.
Nokia posted a $1.36 billion loss in Q3 as the company wrote down the value of its wireless networks venture Nokia Siemens by $1.35 billion. But the company’s share of the global cellphone market remained unchanged at 38 percent. Nokia will prioritize restoring the top line and market share development at Nokia Siemens Networks, CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said on a conference call Thursday. He blamed the ongoing problems with Nokia Siemens on “challenging competitive factors and market conditions.” But the company will stick with the venture. “We continue to support Nokia Siemens Networks’ actions to improve its performance,” Kallasvuo said. He raised his expectation for overall handset shipments, saying they will fall 7 percent year-over- year in 2009. The previous forecast was for a 10 percent drop. Nokia’s adjusted operating margin for devices will increase sequentially by at least one percentage point in Q4, the company said. It sold 16.4 million smart phones vs. last quarter’s 16.9 million. Gross margin in the company’s core devices and services unit fell to 30.9 percent from 34 percent in Q2 due to unfavorable currency exchanges rates, Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson said.
The FCC approved a broadcaster’s request to change DTV channels within the UHF band and sought comment on another station’s request to move to that band from VHF. Bay Television’s WTTA St. Petersburg, Fla., can move to channel 32 from 38, where it contended it faced “severe adjacent channel interference,” (CD Sept 2 p12) said a Media Bureau order Wednesday. The move can occur once the ruling is in the Federal Register, so WTTA “can restore service to former viewers as quickly as possible,” the order said. The bureau wants comment on a request by Scripps Howard Broadcasting to move WCPO-TV Cincinnati from channel 10 to 22 after boosting the power failed to provide “acceptable service through its former service area,” said a rulemaking notice.
Radio and TV station Web sites are adding content and features, a survey by the Radio-Television News Directors Association and Hofstra University found. More sites are streaming live newscasts and stations surveyed reported online audiences were most interested in news and weather, the RTNDA said on Tuesday. “However, only 38 percent of news directors participating in the survey said they're comfortable that their stations are on top of new technology.” Broadcasters in markets of all sizes added Web staffers this year, the group said.
The 10 largest cable operators deployed 443,000 CableCARDs for use in 605 certified unidirectional DTV set models and eight tru2way models through August, the NCTA said Tuesday in a quarterly report to the FCC. By contrast, the cable companies have deployed more than 16.7 million CableCARD boxes since the CableCARD rules took effect July 1, 2007, it said. “Therefore, in just over 24 months, cable operators have deployed almost 38 times as many CableCARD- enabled devices than the total number of CableCARDs requested by customers for use in retail devices in over the last five years,” the NCTA said.
EU governments must make net neutrality a fundamental principle of Europe’s telecommunications market, French digital rights activists said on Thursday. As governments and European Parliament members prepare to re-start talks on the stalled telecommunications regulation reform package, La Quadrature du Net urged French officials, and other countries, to seek changes to language it says threatens net neutrality. The provisions have been pushed by AT&T and other operators as part of the universal service directive, the organization said. One requires operators to give customers information “on any other conditions limiting access to and/or use of services and applications, where such conditions are allowed under national law.” This phrasing suggests that anti-net neutrality practices could be adopted by operators as long as they clearly notify Internet subscribers, a “total contradiction with the essence of the Internet,” the organization said. A second clause allows EU states to require providers to inform subscribers of any “change to conditions limiting access to and/or use of services and applications,” where such conditions are allowed under national law. But there’s no regulation on net neutrality now, and the ambiguous language leaves room for interpretation infringing on net neutrality, the organization said. Other language allows national authorities to “take action to address degradation of service, including the hindering or slowing down of traffic, to the detriment of consumers,” but it’s just a recital without force of law, La Quadrature said. There are legitimate reasons to manage network traffic, such as congestion, but controlling peer-to- peer traffic isn’t one of them, the organization said. Instead, operators faced with growing bandwidth demands should be given incentives to buy more bandwidth, it said. Europe will lag behind if the U.S. FCC’s plan to guarantee net neutrality succeeds but the EU fails to enact similar principles, it said. It urged the committees negotiating the package to get rid of the anti-net neutrality wording and make net neutrality a fundamental regulatory principle. The most contentious amendment in the talks will likely be Amendment 38, which bars governments from restricting the fundamental rights and freedoms of end users without a prior ruling by a judicial authority. Meanwhile, European Parliament political groups listed their candidates for the telecom package conciliation committee, the Industry Committee said. Lawmakers will name their negotiating team Monday, it said.
The FCC approved another station’s request to change DTV channels so more viewers could get the signal (CD Sept 1 p9). A Tuesday Media Bureau order said Fisher Broadcasting’s KBCI Boise can substitute channel 9 for 28, letting it restore service to almost 13,000 people. A bureau rulemaking notice Monday sought comment on whether it should let WTTA St. Petersburg, Fla., move from channel 38, where the station faces “severe adjacent channel interference,” to 32.
Nearly 2,200 entities filed applications requesting about $28 billion in the first round of broadband stimulus grants and loans, NTIA and RUS said Thursday. About 1,490 applications were filed for infrastructure grant and loan requests for $23.2 billion in proposed projects. A smaller pool of applicants, 680, filed proposals for $4.4 billion to be spent on programs to stimulate demand and support public computer centers. Administration officials said they were pleased with the level of interest. Last filings for this first of three grant rounds were due Monday.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and executives of wireless broadband provider Omnicity said Wednesday that the company will expand, creating about 100 new jobs by 2012 in Rushville. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Omnicity up to $25,000 in training grants and will provide Rushville officials with a $110,000 grant toward off-site infrastructure improvements needed for the project. The city will provide property tax abatement at the request of the Rush County Economic Development Corporation. Rushville- based Omnicity, which provides broadband to more than 30 rural Indiana counties, plans to put $2.5 million into infrastructure and construction of a building to house call center, collections and distribution operations. Omnicity, which employs 38 at four Indiana facilities, plans to begin hiring customer service specialists, managers and service personnel in October to keep up with recent acquisitions and fiber-optic construction contracts. The company works with local governments and electric cooperatives to bring broadband to nearly 6,000 subscribers statewide.