Wireless carriers other than AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which signed the ABC Plan for Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation reform, hope to win concessions as proposed changes to the program move forward at the FCC. With the wireless industry presenting a divided front, it’s unclear how much leverage smaller wireless carriers will have and what changes they will be able to push through at the commission.
Several governmental agencies will voice strong reservations over LightSquared’s revised plans for beginning wireless service in the lower part of its L-band spectrum in a Thursday Congressional hearing, according to copies of written testimony obtained by Communications Daily. The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearing on the impact of LightSquared on federal science activities is scheduled for 2 p.m. in room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
State regulators took aim at the industry-endorsed proposals for universal service and intercarrier compensation regime reforms, in reply comments on docket 10-90. Drawing the heaviest fire was the incumbent-backed America’s Broadband Connectivity plan. Regulators from Maine to Alaska blasted the proposals. State regulators have formed themselves into a task force hoping to convince the FCC that it’s too early to create uniform compensation rates (CD Sept 2 p7).
As Congress returns to tackling technology-related legislation, some bills could get some movement, said Internet policy experts for the Center for Democracy & Technology. Bills concerning location privacy from Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Al Franken, D-Minn., Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and HR-1981, a data retention bill from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, could move through the process this Congress, they said.
"The status quo in cybersecurity is not acceptable,” a senior Homeland Security Department official said at a hearing Wednesday of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., agreed cybersecurity is an urgent national defense issue. Meanwhile, committee Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine, pushed for modernization of the country’s emergency alert system.
The Internet Protocol version 6 Forum began a worldwide testbed for IPv6 products. “Boundv6” was named for the late Jim Bound, developer of Moonv6, a global, permanently deployed, multi-vendor IPv6 network led by the North American IPv6 Task Force and the University of New Hampshire-InterOperability Lab, the forum said Wednesday. Where Moonv6 was about vendor interoperability, the new program aims to create a permanent network initially connecting IPv6-ready, logo- and U.S. government-approved labs where IPv6 users can trial applications and devices “in meaningful test scenarios,” it said.
Sprint Nextel Tuesday joined the Department of Justice in suing to block AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile. Sprint sought injunctive relief against AT&T, T-Mobile and parent Deutsche Telekom, in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit alleges that the proposed deal would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act. Meanwhile, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., a member of the Judiciary Committee, urged an objective court review of DOJ’s lawsuit against the deal.
Comments continued to pour in Tuesday as the deadline for filings on industry-proposed universal service and intercarrier compensation regime changes expired. Incumbent telcos were mostly fighting a holding action, while a handful of rural carriers recommitted to fighting against the broader industry consensus. The six companies behind the so-called America’s Broadband Connectivity plan (CD Aug 1 p1) said in a statement that they had come up with a “detailed and workable proposal for fixing the outdated and unsustainable universal service and intercarrier compensation programs.” The companies -- AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, CenturyLink, Windstream and FairPoint -- added: “Adoption of the ABC Plan will lead to greater broadband deployment in rural America. The plan enjoys broad support on issues that have paralyzed the industry for years."
The FCC should require that wireless carriers suspend the service of all subscribers whose cellphones are detected to be operating in a prison in violation of the institution’s rules, CellAntenna said in a petition filed at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bmcngg). CellAntenna, which makes devices that jam wireless signals, previously sought an FCC order sanctioning the use of cell signal jamming technology by prison officials. In the latest twist, the company filed a petition for rulemaking that focuses on detection rather than jamming.
The Department of Justice must disclose case information related to the government’s use of cellphone tracking in criminal prosecutions, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Tuesday. The three-judge panel reaffirmed a district court’s decision that the government should publish information about warrantless cellphone location surveillance. Such disclosures would “inform this ongoing public policy discussion by shedding light on the scope and effectiveness of cell phone tracking as a law enforcement tool,” wrote Circuit Judge Merrick Garland, in the court opinion.