U.K. consumers have little awareness of their ISPs’ traffic management policies, said the Office of Communications on Wednesday in a research document (http://xrl.us/bprw7u). Only one in 10 consumers is familiar with the term and only 1 percent claim to have considered it when choosing their broadband service, it said. However, the review of the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) traffic management transparency code (http://xrl.us/bprxac) showed that information on traffic management provided by ISPs is “broadly transparent,” said Ofcom. All major fixed and mobile ISPs have signed on to the code, which requires them to give users meaningful, useful and comparable information about their policies, it said. Ofcom’s current approach to traffic management “recognises that some forms of traffic management may be necessary to reduce network congestion and can benefit internet consumers by improving the quality of their internet experience,” it said. The issue is not whether traffic management is acceptable in principle but whether particular approaches to it cause concern, it said. In principle, competition is likely to be the most effective mechanism to encourage ISPs to offer a positive online experience, it said. But the benefits of competition could be diluted if consumers don’t have enough information to make informed choices, it said. The regulator has “consistently highlighted” that outright blocking of specific, legal applications or traffic types “would be highly undesirable” and likely to lead to regulation, it said. Over the past year, there has been significant activity in relation to traffic management, it said. Ofcom said that several ISPs have changed the way traffic management is presented to consumers on their websites and in advertising, generally boosting the quality and openness of the information received. The types of traffic management policies applied by ISPs have developed, with some providers now offering services with no policy at all, even in peak periods, and others refining their policies to focus on prioritization or slowing-down of certain activities such as gaming or file-sharing, it said. The changes show that transparency together with competition and innovation are giving consumers more variation and choice, it said. The review of the BSG code supports Ofcom’s self-regulatory strategy but recommended several adjustments to improve the accessibility of traffic management information, the regulator said. Ofcom now wants to “explore whether low awareness on traffic management is a source of consumer harm,” it said.

The House Intellectual Property Subcommittee plans a hearing at 10 a.m. Tuesday on satellite television laws in Title 17 of the U.S. Code at 2141 Rayburn. Congress needs to reauthorize parts of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act by the end of next year.

The city council of Roeland Park, Kan., voted to bring Google Fiber to the city in a network cooperation and services agreement Tuesday, said Google Fiber in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1dGyujs). The agreement provides free broadband Internet services to public facilities that provide access and services to citizens for a maximum term of 10 years (http://bit.ly/14VVhmH). Google Fiber said it doesn’t know when installations will start, because it needs to plan the network and build it.

The U.K. Office of Communications wants input on how to ensure coexistence of white-space devices in the 470-790 MHz band with digital terrestrial TV (DTT) and wireless microphone users, it said in a consultation document Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bprwfi). This is the first set of frequencies in which Ofcom has decided to authorize dynamic spectrum access, but it could be enabled more widely in the future, it said. Ofcom decided to permit use of white-space devices in the UHF band in an earlier decision, subject to ensuring low probability of harmful interference to other services in and adjacent to the band, it said. But there’s uncertainty about the risk of interference from such devices, and Ofcom prefers to “err on the side of caution at this early stage” by setting parameters that could be relaxed in the light of more experience, it said. Later this year it will test its proposals to the extent possible in trials around the U.K. by a variety of service providers, it said. As part of the pilot, the regulator will allow increased power levels to be used for limited time periods, it said. It will then redefine its coexistence proposals based on the trials and evidence from stakeholders, and finalize them next summer before launching a full, nationwide solution later in 2014, it said. The consultation proposed parameters and algorithms aimed at ensuring a low risk of harmful interference from white-space devices to DTT services, licensed users of equipment for program making and special events and services above and below the UHF TV band. The proposal also sets out how Ofcom will avoid harmful interference from white-space devices to services used by Britain’s international neighbors, it said. Initial modeling of the potential effects of the coexistence proposals shows white-space availability for four scenarios that vary by device category and antenna height, it said. Comments are due Nov. 15.

The FCC was set to approve as early as Tuesday a series of spectrum deals unveiled by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Grain Spectrum in January (CD Jan 28 p9), agency officials told us.

Telemarketers wishing to access phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry will face fee increases beginning Oct. 1, said the FTC in a news release Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/14h0zdU). The access fees for the registry are being increased as required by the Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007. In FY 2014, telemarketers will pay $59 -- an increase of a dollar -- to access registry phone numbers in a single area code. The maximum charge will be $16,228 in all area codes nationwide, an increase of more than $200. The act requires that all telemarketers calling consumers in the U.S. download the Do Not Call Registry to ensure they don’t call those who have registered their phone numbers, the agency said.

Customer experience provider Amdocs said Tuesday it agreed to buy mobile network optimization software provider Actix for about $120 million in cash. Amdocs will be able to expand its Customer Experience Systems portfolio using geo-located network data, allowing the company to be the first vendor that can offer customer experience-driven network optimization using a “holistic view of the customer experience across all networks,” Amdocs said in a news release. The combination of Actix’s geo-located network data and its policy management, business and operational support systems will allow service providers to “modify and improve the experience of a specific customer or group of customers,” Amdocs said (http://bit.ly/14V2Tpu).

A study group was convened to encourage widespread adoption of universal codes for all professional video content and ads, said the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/15A6SDt). CIMM’s Trackable Asset Cross-Platform Identification (TAXI) calls for all media to use codes similar to UPCs, provided by Ad-ID, which is used to identify advertising assets across all media platforms, or Entertainment Identifier Registry, a global registry for unique identification of movie and TV content, said the organizations. “The transfer of content throughout the media ecosystem is rife with thousands of siloed, proprietary avenues that have resulted in massive inefficiencies, errors, and waste,” said CIMM Managing Director Jane Clarke. “The growing support for the TAXI initiative is a testament to the frustration with the existing system and a sincere willingness to effect change."

Microsoft and Google filed a motion for stay Friday, requesting an additional 10 days to file amended motions in their case against the Department of Justice over government surveillance programs, said Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) documents (http://1.usa.gov/1769IUT). The case involves requests by Microsoft and Google to release more specific information about the requests they receive for user information under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The motion for stay gives Justice more time to file its opposition brief, which -- after six extensions -- was to be due to the FISC on Friday. Justice declined to comment other than directing us to the case’s FISC docket and last week’s statement from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that committed to release aggregate information annually about FISA surveillance programs (CD Sept 2 p3). An industry official said the amended requests will likely mirror requests made in a coalition letter -- signed by 22 companies including Google and Microsoft -- to the White House, intelligence community and members of Congress (http://bit.ly/13wbD0Y). “We're thankful to Google and Microsoft for continuing to fight in court for their First Amendment right to inform their users, and for refusing to accept the Administration’s transparency half-measures,” said Kevin Bankston, Center for Democracy and Technology director-free expression, in a statement Friday. He said last week’s “events make clear that Congress should move forward immediately with the transparency reporting legislation” introduced in August in both the House and the Senate, “rather than waiting to see if the Administration will deliver meaningful transparency on its own.”