The FCC needs to improve its oversight of wireless companies’ customer service, said a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday. Nearly 84 percent of customers are satisfied with their wireless service, the report found, but problems with billing, contract terms and customer service bring complaints from as many as 14 percent. The proportions of dissatisfied customers “represent millions of consumers” of the estimated 270 million U.S. wireless phone users, the GAO said.

Information and communications technology companies are missing big opportunities if they look only to NTIA and RUS for stimulus money, speakers said Tuesday at a Vienna, Va., event sponsored by TIA and the Northern Virginia Technology Council. They said billions of dollars more are available for ICT in the stimulus law beyond the broadband programs.

The Telecommunications Industry Association asked the FCC to remake the Universal Service Fund into a broadband fund, in comments on National Broadband Plan Public Notice #19, on USF and intercarrier compensation issues. Five mid- sized incumbent telcos offered a proposal for revamping both. Most filers agreed that USF and ICC overhauls should be included in the plan, due to be submitted to Congress in February. Many comments built on those filed in previous comment rounds.

Comcast’s agreement to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal is bound to raise scrutiny by legislators and regulators on broadcast and cable industry practices, said supporters and opponents we surveyed. The companies expected the deal, announced last week, to draw a year-long regulatory review (CD Dec 7 p2). It may also draw attention to Internet issues including subscription video, and consumer electronics matters such as CableCARDs, executives said.

Comcast’s agreement to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal is bound to raise scrutiny by legislators and regulators on broadcast and cable industry practices, said supporters and opponents we surveyed. The companies expected the deal, announced last week, to draw a year-long regulatory review (CED Dec 7 p6). It may also draw attention to Internet issues including subscription video, and consumer electronics matters such as CableCARDs, executives said.

On December 7, 2009, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano and Mexican Secretary of Finance and Public Credit Carstens signed an updated and enhanced Declaration of Principles accomplishing the goals they outlined in June to create a joint U.S.-Mexico framework to improve security along the Southwest border and facilitate the flow of legitimate travel and trade. (Press release, including link to Declaration, available at http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1260207066445.shtm.)

Why would Julius Genachowski, now the head of an independent agency, visit the White House 47 times during the course of the administration (CD Nov 30 p9), asked Progress & Freedom Foundation President Adam Thierer and senior fellow Berin Szoka in an article published on the Web site Technology Liberation Front. Eight of the visits came after he became chairman of the commission, the other 39 before. “Move over, health care reform, climate change, and the economy. Judging by White House visits by various government agency heads, the Obama administration instead appears preoccupied with the re-regulation of communications, media, and the Internet,” they wrote. “Chairman Genachowski obviously has an audience with those at the highest levels of power, including the President himself, but this raises questions about just how ‘independent’ this particular regulator and his agency really are.” Genachowski met twice directly with President Barack Obama. According to the records, he made many more visits than any member of the Cabinet. But, we've learned, the logs appear not to have captured all visits during that period. Commissioners Michael Copps, Robert McDowell and Jonathan Adelstein, for example, all went to the White House for a DTV round table that does not show up in the records, FCC sources said. The record apparently was not intended to be all-inclusive. Obama advisor Norm Eisen explained on the White House Blog that the administration plans, starting in December, to publish a list of visitors on a voluntary basis. Pending that, it decided to publish information for the hundreds of individuals on which it had Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments on the World Trade Organization's recent establishment of a dispute settlement panel to examine complaints by Canada and Mexico regarding U.S. mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) requirements for meat and other agricultural commodities.

Why would Julius Genachowski, now the head of an independent agency, visit the White House 47 times during the course of the administration, asked Progress & Freedom Foundation President Adam Thierer and senior fellow Berin Szoka in an article published on the Web site Technology Liberation Front. Eight of the visits came after he became chairman of the commission, the other 39 before. “Move over, health care reform, climate change, and the economy. Judging by White House visits by various government agency heads, the Obama administration instead appears preoccupied with the re-regulation of communications, media, and the Internet,” they wrote. “Chairman Genachowski obviously has an audience with those at the highest levels of power, including the President himself, but this raises questions about just how ‘independent’ this particular regulator and his agency really are.” Genachowski met twice directly with President Barack Obama. According to the records, he made many more visits than any member of the Cabinet. But, we've learned, the logs appear not to have captured all visits during that period. Commissioners Michael Copps, Robert McDowell and Jonathan Adelstein, for example, all went to the White House for a DTV round table that does not show up in the records, FCC sources said. The record apparently was not intended to be all- inclusive. Obama advisor Norm Eisen explained on the White House blog that the administration plans, starting in December, to publish a list of visitors on a voluntary basis. Pending that, it decided to publish information for the hundreds of individuals on which it had Freedom of Information Act requests.

The FCC asks a battery of questions about reallocating spectrum for wireless broadband, in a long-expected public notice released Wednesday. The notice asks numerous questions specific to broadcast spectrum, but opens the door to comments on government, satellite and other spectrum as well. Meanwhile, a coalition of 103 companies and nine trade associations sent FCC commissioners a letter stating the general case that the U.S. needs more spectrum, without taking on the touchy issue of whether it should be set aside for licensed or unlicensed use.