Verizon Wireless’s plan to buy AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox is likely to be rejected, or conditioned in a way that will make it far less attractive to the companies involved, in the wake of the death of the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, ex-FCC Chief Economist Alan Pearce said Thursday. Now at Information Age Economics, he said during a Law Seminars International AT&T/T-Mobile teleconference that the days when the FCC won’t stand up to oppose industry consolidation are clearly over.
Cloud-based online sales tax calculators could be the answer to balancing state budgets and encouraging a revival of brick and mortar businesses, say lawmakers and some online retailers. A key component of the Senate Marketplace Fairness Act (S-1832) lets states provide computerized sales tax collection services to remote and online sellers that identify a consumer’s tax rate via ZIP codes and electronically submit sales taxes to states. But opponents of the bill say the proposal places an undue burden on small retailers by forcing them to implement costly and burdensome tax collection software.
Goodwill between the FCC and broadcasters on spectrum, diminished in the runup to frequency reallocation legislation President Barack Obama signed Feb. 22, ought to get a bump up in the coming months, executives and ex-commission officials said. They said the law all but requires both sides to collaborate so the agency can raise maximum proceeds from selling TV spectrum for wireless broadband use and so broadcasters not volunteering to sell frequencies have channels changed -- or repacked -- with the least amount of viewer and business disruption. Former high-ranking commission officials and industry executives pointed to 2009’s transition to DTV as a model for ways stations and the FCC can work together now.
Public Knowledge welcomed an FCC public notice released Thursday seeking comment on “concerns and issues” raised by the intentional interruption of CMRS service by government authorities for the purposes of protecting public safety (CD March 2 p 14). PK noted that it joined other groups in asking the FCC to rule on whether the Bay Area Rapid Transit authority violated the Communications Act in August when it cut wireless service at one transit station in the interest of public safety. “We agree with FCC Chairman [Julius ] Genachowski that any such cutoff raises ’serious legal and policy issues, and must meet a very high bar,'” the group said. “The same wireless network that police see as a tool for rioters to coordinate is the same wireless network used by peaceful protesters to exercise our fundamental freedoms. More than that, in any event, the network will be necessary for people in the area to call for help or to let family members know they are not harmed.” The courts, not the FCC, need to step in, said TechFreedom. “What BART did clearly violated the First Amendment, and needlessly put passengers at risk by cutting off emergency services just when they were needed most,” the group said. “But we need a court to say so, not the FCC. The FCC has no authority here. The state did not order the shutdown of the network, nor does the state run the network. BART simply turned off equipment it doesn’t own -- a likely violation of its contractual obligations to the carriers.”
An Arizona company is marketing license preparation services for spectrum the FCC is not even close to making available, is not accepting applications for, and which may have little value when it does, Communications Daily learned from company documents and interviews. The company, Smartcomm LLC of Phoenix, also has charged up to 280 times what others are charging for similar license preparation services.
Public Knowledge welcomed an FCC public notice released Thursday seeking comment on “concerns and issues” raised by the intentional interruption of CMRS service by government authorities for the purposes of protecting public safety (CD March 2 p 14). PK noted that it joined other groups in asking the FCC to rule on whether the Bay Area Rapid Transit authority violated the Communications Act in August when it cut wireless service at one transit station in the interest of public safety. “We agree with FCC Chairman [Julius ] Genachowski that any such cutoff raises ’serious legal and policy issues, and must meet a very high bar,'” the group said. “The same wireless network that police see as a tool for rioters to coordinate is the same wireless network used by peaceful protesters to exercise our fundamental freedoms. More than that, in any event, the network will be necessary for people in the area to call for help or to let family members know they are not harmed.” The courts, not the FCC, need to step in, said TechFreedom. “What BART did clearly violated the First Amendment, and needlessly put passengers at risk by cutting off emergency services just when they were needed most,” the group said. “But we need a court to say so, not the FCC. The FCC has no authority here. The state did not order the shutdown of the network, nor does the state run the network. BART simply turned off equipment it doesn’t own -- a likely violation of its contractual obligations to the carriers."
Goodwill between the FCC and broadcasters on spectrum, diminished in the runup to frequency reallocation legislation President Barack Obama signed Feb. 22, ought to get a bump up in the coming months, executives and ex-commission officials said. They said the law all but requires both sides to collaborate so the agency can raise maximum proceeds from selling TV spectrum for wireless broadband use and so broadcasters not volunteering to sell frequencies have channels changed -- or repacked -- with the least amount of viewer and business disruption. Former high-ranking commission officials and industry executives pointed to 2009’s transition to DTV as a model for ways stations and the FCC can work together now.
An Arizona company is marketing license preparation services for spectrum the FCC is not even close to making available, is not accepting applications for, and which may have little value when it does, Communications Daily learned from company documents and interviews. The company, Smartcomm LLC of Phoenix, also has charged up to 280 times what others are charging for similar license preparation services.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement won’t violate digital freedoms, force border inspection of laptops and MP3 players or change EU law regarding ISP liability, European Commission officials, academics and lawyers said Thursday as they struggled to convince skeptical EU lawmakers to approve the treaty. Truth has been “one commodity in short supply” in the intense debate, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said at a webcast European Parliament International Trade (INTA) Committee workshop. He and others denied that ACTA will affect EU law enshrined in the copyright, e-commerce and other directives. But several academics fiercely contested his comments, saying the pact will force tougher intellectual property (IP) rights enforcement on non-ACTA countries and that it isn’t the best way to tackle the legitimate problem of counterfeiting.
New numbers compiled by UBS show what could be a troublesome trend for the FCC, with Verizon Wireless and AT&T continuing strong subscriber growth, as Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile fall further behind. The numbers, gathered from the most recent company reports, come as the FCC prepares the 2012 version of the Wireless Competition Report. The agency is also likely to consider rules that could potentially limit Verizon and AT&T participation in upcoming spectrum auctions, including the eventual voluntary incentive auction of broadcast spectrum.