About half the $100 million in rural broadband funds provisionally awarded by the FCC went to bidders unable to provide financial disclosure statements to show they were qualified, according to the agency’s figures in a public notice.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is circulating to the commission a proposal to increase the broadband benchmark speed to 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, from the current 4 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload standard, said an agency fact sheet made available to us Wednesday. Wheeler is also circulating a Notice of Inquiry asking what additional actions the agency should take to accelerate broadband deployment, the fact sheet said.
“Title X” is the calling card one lawmaker and industry lobbyists associate with net neutrality legislation likely coming down the pike early in 2015. The phrase doesn't refer to any actual title of the Communications Act but seems to be the placeholder name given to a new title intended for broadband service, which would allow for net neutrality protections without what some see as anachronistic regulatory burdens of Title II and the forbearance it may require.
The FCC Wireline Bureau Tuesday provided more time for parties to file oppositions to USTelecom’s petition for reconsideration of the FCC’s Nov. 24 declaratory ruling on what constitutes a "discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of a service” for purposes of interpreting Section 214 of the Communications Act. USTelecom argued the ruling imposed “new substantive requirements, or rules, on providers without any notice or opportunity for comment.” Public Knowledge asked for additional time, in a filing also posted by the FCC Tuesday in docket 14-174. Oppositions were due Jan. 2 and the new due date is Jan. 23. Replies are due Jan. 30. The bureau said there has been some confusion about the opposition deadline and that major holidays fall during the response period. “We find that granting the extension requested by Public Knowledge is warranted by the unusual circumstances here,” the bureau said.
USTelecom asked the FCC to reconsider a Nov. 25 declaratory ruling changing the “long-standing” definition of what constitutes a “discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of service” under Communications Act Section 214. “The new definition is impermissibly vague and, instead of terminating a controversy or removing uncertainty, it creates unnecessary confusion,” USTelecom said in a petition for reconsideration filed Tuesday. The new standard says a service may no longer be defined by its provider, but should be defined under an “amorphous” functional test “that takes into account the totality of the circumstances from the perspective of the relevant community or part of a community,” USTelecom said. “Under this new view, providers are unable to gauge what services or aspects of their products or services might require a section 214 filing to discontinue or grandfather.”
The revolving door rotates freely in government public relations. At just one federal agency with about 1,700 total employees, at least 14 public relations experts and lawyers who advise on issues including PR came or left during the Obama administration. Careers of PR practitioners exiting the FCC since about Jan. 21, 2009, spanned the gamut. Some job changes resembled the traditional revolving door, with officials leaving for the industries their employer used to regulate, others were so-called reverse revolvers coming to the agency from entities that lobbied the FCC, while other career paths were less orthodox and don't fall under the revolving door rubric at all. That is according to Communications Daily Freedom of Information Act requests, other records and interviews with those who reviewed our database.
The FCC raised the minimum broadband speeds required of Connect America Fund (CAF) recipients to 10 Mbps download Thursday, but CenturyLink complained the commission didn't provide enough in return to offset the costs, and that fewer expensive-to-serve rural ones will get service than had the commission done more (see 1411260040).
Satellite Industry Association hires Tom Stroup, ex-Shared Spectrum Co., as president ... USTelecom hires Diane Griffin Holland, ex-FCC, to law and policy team as vice president ... Verizon promotes Craig Silliman to executive vice president-public policy and general counsel, effective Jan. 1, succeeding Randal Milch, named strategic policy adviser to CEO Lowell McAdam, overseeing strategic policy initiatives ... Icontrol Networks hires Ken Hahn, ex-QuinStreet, as chief financial officer, and Steve Gribbon, ex-ADT, as senior vice president-worldwide sales ... SpotXchange hires Randy Cooke, ex-NCC Media, as vice president-programmatic TV ... Gigamon hires Scott Sullivan, ex-VSS Monitoring, as vice president-worldwide channel sales ... YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki appointed to Salesforce board ... Lobbyist registrations: iApp Creative, digital payment firm, Tauzin Consultants, effective March 24 ... Gada Secure Pay technology company, TG&C Group, effective Dec. 1.
The question of whether and how much to increase the length of Connect America Fund support in return for recipients providing faster broadband remains under discussion at the FCC, with the commission scheduled to take up the issue Thursday (see 1411260040), industry representatives involved in the debate said. One issue that has emerged is a sentiment within the agency that CAF recipients continue to get funding for five years, as they do now, the representatives said.
Video streaming service Aereo took in just over $2 million this year from business operations through Nov. 19, the day before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (see 1411210033), the company said in a statement of financial affairs filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The $2 million it generated in 2014 business proceeds was roughly 60 percent more than the $1.25 million it took in for all of 2012 and 2013 combined, said the statement filed Thursday.