The FCC Thursday approved a notice of inquiry asking a battery of questions on Deployable Aerial Communications Architectures (DACA) -- balloon-mounted systems and other aerial base stations that could be quickly dispatched to disaster areas to keep communications alive when other systems falter. The FCC earlier sought comment, only to meet with resistance from wireless carriers, who cited major interference concerns (CD March 2/11 p 7).
BOSTON -- State telecom regulators took a largely dim view of the FCC’s ability to regulate state and local policy matters, as they grappled with the potential components of a prospective 2013 Telecom Act. Speaking on a Cable Show panel on public utility commissions late Tuesday, state regulators generally agreed that any proposed broad new telecom law should have the FCC set fewer specific rules while allowing them more leeway to regulate local issues as they see fit. Speaking earlier at the conference, aides to legislators had said the 1996 Telecom Act may be updated, though it could take years (CD May 22 p5).
BOSTON -- A market-based approach to antitrust oversight, rules and technology is sought by administration officials and regulators from both political parties. Rather than being based on method of distribution, policies and their underlying laws ought to be based on how products are used, they said in a Q-and-A by at a Cable Show luncheon Tuesday. FTC members of both parties and NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said voluntary codes of conduct are a way to ensure consumers’ online privacy.
BOSTON -- Usage-based data pricing can spur competition in broadband, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said of ISPs’ moves to systems not always charging flat prices regardless of consumption. NCTA CEO Michael Powell asked Genachowski about the practice in a Q-and-A Tuesday at The Cable Show, noting ISPs of all sorts, including cable operators, are starting to charge based on consumption. “Business model innovation is very important, particularly in new areas like broadband,” Genachowski replied. The commission’s 2010 net neutrality order allowed such practices. Nonprofits that backed the order criticized Genachowski’s remarks, while AT&T supported the comments.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved five members for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on Thursday despite the concerns of Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. The nominees are: David Medine, partner with WilmerHale, as chairman; James Dempsey, vice president at the Center for Democracy and Technology; Elisebeth Cook, partner with Freeborn & Peters; Rachel Brand, chief counsel for regulatory litigation at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and Patricia Wald, former judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The committee approved Medine by a 10-8 vote along partisan lines, while the other four members were approved by a voice vote and their names sent to the floor for a full vote. Grassley opposed the confirmation of Medine due to “serious concerns” about the nominee’s views on profiling foreign nationals from high risk countries. “Specifically Mr. Medine noted that it would be inappropriate for the federal government to profile foreign nationals from high risk countries based solely on the country of origin,” said Grassley. “This is troubling.” Grassley had previously expressed his concern over the “broad mandate” of the board and its mission (CD April 19 p14). The board was established in 2004, following a recommendation by the 9/11 commission, but the Senate failed to approve its members. TechFreedom, in a statement following the vote, called the committee’s vote “a long-overdue victory for privacy and the rule of law.” The board is “more necessary than ever as Congress careens towards passing cybersecurity legislation that, while well-intentioned, could allow radical new intrusions by government into our private communications without traditional safeguards,” the group said.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell wants President Barack Obama to make federal agencies give the government more cooperation as the administration, commission and lawmakers want to reallocate public and privately held frequencies for wireless broadband. “I've been disappointed, I think, in the executive branch” for not doing more to encourage government to find frequencies it can move off of in favor of commercial deployment, he said Thursday. He praised the NTIA’s March report pegging at $18 billion what it would cost the government to vacate the 1755-1850 MHz band in a process it said would take 10 years (CD March 28 p1), saying that agency may not have gotten all the cooperation it needed from others. McDowell also said that at initial impression he prefers that telcos contribute to the USF based on a metric related to the amount of phone numbers a company has, he said in a taped interview to be shown this weekend on C-SPAN.
Senate Commerce Committee members evaluated the FCC’s positions on wireless competition, the E-rate program, net neutrality, spectrum incentive auctions and broadband deployment, during the agency’s first oversight hearing in three years. The commissioners would not say whether they planned to start an investigation into allegations of News Corp. misconduct, but said they were monitoring the situation. Newly minted FCC commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel were largely silent at the Wednesday hearing, and primarily deferred to established agency talking points.
Different entertainment industry quarters found different ways for the FCC Media Bureau to interpret the terms “multichannel video programming distributor” and “channel” as they relate to new entrants in the video distribution business. In comments responding to a Media Bureau public notice that asked how to interpret such terms (http://xrl.us/bm723b) cable operators largely opposed an expanded interpretation of the terms that would cover companies who use the Internet to deliver video to subscribers.
The Legal Division of the California Public Utilities Commission opposed the state VoIP legislation SB-1161 (CD April 30, p9), said a commission memo released Tuesday. CPUC scheduled a vote on the bill Thursday. The bill could deregulate providers that aren’t considered VoIP providers, the Legal Division said. CPUC should retain flexibility to determine whether and how to regulate VoIP services, the division said (http://xrl.us/bm6ud6). The Communications Division opposed the bill unless it’s amended, it said. The latest version of the bill would retain CPUC’s current general authority over the traditional services. It noted the words “service providers” in the bill text was amended to read “services.” However, other provisions of the bill could prevent adoption of new regulations on non IP-enabled and enforcement of existing regulations of non IP-enabled services, it said. “The result would be endless disputes with industry,” it said. It urged the legislators to amend the bill to enforce federal laws and regulations impact IP-enabled services where authorized to do so by FCC direction. The bill should also be amended to permit the CPUC to monitor the provision of VoIP services, to collect data from interconnected VoIP providers pertaining to the provision of VoIP services, and to make recommendations and reports to the state legislature regarding the provision of VoIP services, the division said. The provision should also require interconnected VoIP service providers to respond to CPUC data requests, it said.
CAMBRIDGE, Md. -- NTIA never probed the administration or industry on the $18 billion cost estimate for clearing the 1755-1850 MHz band contained in a recent agency report on the future of the band, Deputy Administrator Anna Gomez said Saturday. One recurring industry criticism is that the numbers contained in the report were unrealistically high. Gomez reiterated, in a presentation at the FCBA’s annual meeting, that a key finding of the report that spectrum sharing will be a key part of meeting growing industry needs for more access to spectrum.