CEO Eric Schmidt said Google’s wireless net neutrality stance has been badly misunderstood, and company policies have drawn lines in the sand against some tracking and personal identification practices. Google opposes discriminatory practices in wireless as well as wired broadband, he said late Monday at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. The company’s August outline proposal with Verizon for federal legislation didn’t change that, Schmidt said.
ATLANTA -- The FCC is “moving forward strongly on implementation of the National Broadband Plan,” including fixing the spectrum, intercarrier compensation and Universal Service Fund systems, said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, speaking at a NARUC annual meeting for the first time. Two areas in which innovation is essential are broadband and the smart grid, said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. NTIA has identified government spectrum for commercial broadband, he said. (See separate story in this issue.)
Three draft FCC rulemaking items on spectrum that circulated Tuesday for a vote at this month’s meeting seem to hold few surprises for industry or commissioners, said agency and industry officials. The drafts from career agency staffers are consistent with public comments by Chairman Julius Genachowski on the items, which he has made the focus of the Nov. 30 meeting (CD Oct 21 p1), FCC officials said. The items haven’t become controversial within the agency, but commission staffers and lobbyists are just starting to focus on them, they said.
NTIA will propose legislation that would provide funding to help identify spectrum that might be ripe for commercial use, the agency said in its long-awaited “Plan and Timetable to Make Available 500 Megahertz of Spectrum for Wireless Broadband,” released Monday. NTIA laid out a schedule for identifying additional bands for reallocation over the next five years, committing to identify the first band for additional analysis in January. The agency also released a report on 115 MHz of spectrum already considered for fast-track reallocation.
Mediacom Chairman Rocco Commisso’s increased bid to take his company private will probably be approved by shareholders, cable analysts said. Mediacom’s board agreed to Commisso’s latest takeover bid of $8.75 a share, about $600 million total, the company said Monday. The board agreed after “extensive negotiations” between Commisso and a special committee of directors took place following Commisso’s initial $6 per-share bid in May, it said. Commisso already owns most of the company shares, but the deal requires approval by a majority of the other shareholders. The transaction won’t require FCC approval, and the company is reviewing its franchise agreements to determine whether any local approvals are needed, a spokesman said.
ATLANTA -- The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Telecommunications Committee approved a resolution urging Congress to ensure NTIA and RUS have adequate funds to continue oversight of the BTOP and BIP grant and loan awards. Also at the group’s annual meeting, it passed a resolution supporting expeditious FCC action on abusive so-called traffic pumping.
Members of the Rural Cellular Association and the Rural Telecommunications Group have faced “anticompetitive behavior” as they tried to work out data roaming agreements with AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the groups said in an ex parte letter filed Friday at the FCC. The filing comes amid speculation that a data-roaming order is close to completion at the commission, with a vote possible at the Dec. 15 meeting.
The FCC no longer appears likely to take on Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation proposals at its Dec. 15 meeting, FCC officials said last week. With USF likely off the agenda until the new year, it’s unclear what will be on the agenda at the last open meeting of 2010.
The FCC will postpone by a half year the deadline for broadcasters and cable operators to be able to pass along emergency alerts using new standards from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said commission and industry officials. The deadline to implement Common Alerting Protocol at radio and TV stations and cable systems is 180 days after FEMA finalized CAP, which was Sept. 30, putting the deadline at the end of March. A draft FCC order likely to be finalized soon extends the time to Sept. 30, 2011, agency and industry officials said. The delay had been expected (CD Oct 5 p1).
The GOP Majority Transition Committee doesn’t plan to clarify the party’s House term-limit rule, which appears to prevent Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, from becoming committee chairman, said a spokesman for the transition team. That’s despite a letter to the transition team by three former Republican chairmen backing Barton for the job. Meanwhile, Democratic Reps. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania and Bobby Rush of Illinois said Friday they'll seek the job of ranking member of the Communications Subcommittee.