About dozen stations nationally were operating digital in- band, on-channel (IBOC) HD Radio as of mid-Feb. So said licensor iBiquity Digital in comments filed with FCC opposing petition by Amherst Alliance and others to reconsider Commission’s Oct. 2002 report and order approving HD Radio as IBOC digital AM and FM system (CED Oct 11 p1).
Hughes Electronics and Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) have settled for $32 million with the State Dept. on allegations the companies were involved in unauthorized assistance to China, State said. It had filed 123 charges against Hughes and Boeing in Dec. alleging they had violated the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (CD Jan 3 p3).
Verizon agreed to pay $5.7 million to U.S. Treasury to settle FCC investigation into violations of Telecom Act ban on Bell companies’ providing long distance service before receiving authority from FCC. Commission announced it had entered into consent decree with Verizon in which company admitted it had marketed long distance in its local service region on 5 occasions in Jan.-July 2002 through cable TV ads, bill inserts and direct mail solicitations. FCC Chmn. Powell said action demonstrated agency’s “commitment to deterring companies from entering the market prematurely.”
OPASTCO said Tues. it was upset with way many state PUCs were allowing competitive carriers to receive Universal Service Fund (USF). Group said it would start pushing message to Congress that states were straying from congressional intent of Telecom Act of 1996 and that FCC needed more oversight of PUCs. With OPASTCO members in Washington for annual legislative and regulatory conference, many were planning to meet with members of Congress this week in attempt to put more focus on USF issues, particularly designations of eligible telecom carrier (ETC) by state PUCs.
Philippine telecom carriers strongly opposed AT&T and WorldCom requests that FCC prohibit U.S. carriers from making payments to Philippine carriers until international service on that route was fully restored. AT&T and WorldCom in Feb. filed petitions with Commission alleging several Philippine carriers had blocked traffic of U.S. carriers after they refused to agree to unilateral settlement rate increases. AT&T and WorldCom asked Commission to take action to protect U.S. carriers in their negotiations on U.S.-Philippines route from whipsawing. Philippine carriers urged Commission to deny AT&T’s petition, contending that no whipsawing had taken place on Philippine end of route.
Rural telcos and ILECs urged FCC not to grant CTIA request for ruling that wireline carriers had obligation to port customer’s phone number to wireless provider in certain cases. Some wireline carriers argued in comments this week that CTIA wanted ILECs to port numbers out of their rate centers to wireless providers, but didn’t commit to wireless- to-wireline local number portability (LNP). BellSouth told FCC if agency couldn’t provide guidance on issue in “timely manner,” it should consider extending wireless LNP deadline. Wireless and wireline carriers need 7-8 months to craft technical specifications to implement wireless LNP on competitively neutral basis, carrier said.
One focus of House subcommittee hearing Wed. was how content industry had partnered with universities to thwart copyright infringement over campus broadband networks. But hearing also featured contentious debate by members of that partnership and subcommittee members on extent to which fair use should be protected in enforcement process.
Americans’ privacy rights won’t be affected by Bush Administration’s proposed Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), officials of FBI, CIA and Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) told Senate lawmakers Wed. Comments -- by Winston Wiley, CIA assoc. dir. of central intelligence for homeland security; Pasquale D'Amuro, FBI exec. asst. dir.- counterterrorism; and Gordon England, DHS deputy secy. -- came at 2nd hearing of Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on TTIC. Committee Chmn. Collins (R-Me.) called hearing to try to nail down specifics of Administration’s implementation plans.
FCC’s recent mobile satellite service (MSS) order chose less conservative emissions limits to protect GPS from ancillary terrestrial operations than power levels that were advocated by NTIA, private sector and other agencies, including Defense Dept. Five days before FCC adopted order Jan. 29, NTIA raised concerns that out-of-band power limits ultimately approved for ancillary terrestrial service would “significantly degrade” performance of GPS receivers to meet Enhanced 911 accuracy requirements. NTIA and FCC reached agreement that entailed latter’s Office of Engineering & Technology’s soliciting comments “shortly” on what changes, if any, were needed in GPS protection, NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory said.
Verizon Wireless has made “bona fide requests” to port numbers from other carriers in 100 largest markets, spokesman said, but hasn’t given up court fight against FCC requirements on local number portability (LNP). Requests come on heels of campaign by Sen. Schumer (D-N.Y.) for cellphone bill of rights that would include LNP requirements. He told NARUC conference Tues. that Verizon Wireless and T- Mobile had committed to meeting Nov. 2003 LNP deadline imposed by FCC and hailed company for cooperation on what he called proconsumer issue.