A European Commission roadmap for the future of satellite navigation system Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) began moving through the European Parliament Wednesday. Lawmakers in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee said they're generally enthusiastic about the programs, which are seen as a way to boost European growth, competitiveness and clout, but they remain wary about the cost overruns that have plagued Galileo. Questions about financing and governance remain, they said.
Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke Tuesday said Congress should sweep aside current communications law and regulation, replacing it with new legislation tailored to a world of competition. The current law “just is not relevant to the marketplace in which we live and in which we operate,” Tauke said at a Free State Foundation conference. But Tauke, a former Republican member of the House from Iowa, conceded legislation is always a tough slog.
Congress needs to revisit whether the telecom industry needs two regulatory bodies -- the FCC and the Department of Justice -- conducting merger reviews, several industry executives said during a Free State Foundation panel Tuesday. Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president-external and legislative affairs, doesn’t think the FCC role here is essential. “We learned last year that the Department of Justice is very capable of deciding to kill a merger on their own,” he said to chuckles. The FCC’s tendency to require “voluntary conditions” on a merger is a notion designed to effect results that the Commission would otherwise have no authority over, he said, arguing the Commission has used such conditions as a “substitute for a formal rulemaking process” and to avoid the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.
The FCC will continue to monitor how much spectrum the wireless industry needs, and could offer some new projections over the next year or so, Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan said Tuesday at a Free State Foundation conference. On the two-year anniversary of the National Broadband Plan last week, Blair Levin, manager of the plan, and Commissioner Robert McDowell both called for another look at spectrum projections (CD March 19 p1).
SILICON VALLEY -- Pay-TV distributors will soon begin offering video services outside their traditional service areas, executives at digital media companies said Tuesday at OTTCON (http://xrl.us/bmywbh). “There’s a little hesitation to be the first company to go, but I think lots of them are thinking about this and some of them, very seriously,” said Anthony Wood, CEO of Roku. “This doesn’t exist today but I think it’s going to happen and probably this year,” he said.
The FCC cleared the way for more than 1,000 FM translator stations to go on-air in two items that also start work on an upcoming opportunity for tribes and community groups to seek new low-power stations on that band. An order and a rulemaking notice released Monday night appeared to largely track with drafts the Media Bureau circulated for a vote (CD Feb 9 p6), which commissioners approved as also expected (CD March 8 p12) before Wednesday’s agency meeting. The items said new rules for a 2003 application window for translators will expand the pool of construction permits issued from Auction 83 by 29 percent to 4,500 and possibly more. The next window for LPFM seekers to get permits for those stations may be the last, the commission said, asking about changes to some ownership rules.
The FCC, which has reformed some of its other Universal Service Fund programs, will continue to work toward completing all of its reform efforts, including reform of the rural healthcare program, Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett said at a Broadband Breakfast Club briefing Tuesday. Other speakers cited healthcare licensing regulations and outdated healthcare infrastructure as barriers to expanding broadband-enabled healthcare.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will bring the Cybersecurity Act, S-2105, to the floor after the Easter/Passover recess, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., told us Tuesday. “It won’t happen now in this work session, I don’t believe. But when we come back after the break Senator Reid will take the bill to the floor and challenge us to deal with it,” he said.
The cybersecurity working group of the House Communications Subcommittee aims to finish its work by the end of the month or early April, multiple Capitol Hill officials said. The group has held several staff-level meetings this month with stakeholders from across the tech sector and, at minimum, plans to release recommendations for the subcommittee, Hill and telecom industry officials said. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., has said he formed the group to make recommendations on several cyberissues including Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), securing the supply chain and a voluntary code of conduct and best practices for network operators.
The FCC is expected to propose getting rid of ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) rules for the S-band, potentially allowing Dish Network to provide terrestrial-only services in the 2 GHz spectrum allocated for mobile satellite services, industry and agency officials said of a rulemaking notice likely to be approved Wednesday. The agency will propose buildout conditions and leave related questions about the 2 GHz spectrum and advanced wireless service (AWS) band plans within a notice of inquiry, they said. The NOI will consider the future of the proposed 2 GHz expansion band, at 1695-1710 MHz, primarily used by NOAA, FCC officials said.