U.S. Internet players will abide by the spirit of net neutrality for the foreseeable future, regardless of the outcome of appeals against the FCC’s 2010 rules, the agency’s recently departed chief of staff predicted. Net neutrality has become the “norm” in the U.S., Eddie Lazarus told an Information Technology & Innovation Foundation event Thursday. The type of heated rhetoric that occurred over net neutrality and this year over legislation that’s now being debated on intellectual property rights could be the harbinger of future debates, Lazarus said. He voiced hope there will be more wireless competitors, and that LightSquared’s spectrum will eventually be put to more use, and has no regrets about how the commission handled the company’s waiver.
Feb. 21 Broadband Breakfast panel on cybersecurity legislation, 8 a.m., Clyde’s Gallery Place, Washington -- 646-262-4630
TerreStar’s reorganization plan to emerge from bankruptcy was approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Dish Network said. Dish is seeking FCC approval for it to use TerreStar’s and DBSD’s S-band spectrum terrestrially. “DISH is prepared to close both transactions upon receipt of Federal Communications Commission approval of the license transfers and associated waiver requests,” said a Dish spokesman. “With these approvals, DISH would immediately begin the design and construction planning for the nation’s first 100 percent LTE network. The requested waivers are necessary, among other things, to remove an outdated requirement for every handset to have the capability to establish a communications link to a satellite. The waiver of this requirement will allow DISH to provide more meaningful competition and greater choice for wireless consumers."
The Justice and Homeland Security departments gave their blessing Tuesday for FCC approval that would allow Intelsat to hold an initial public offering (http://xrl.us/bmr748). The departments previously asked the commission to wait to act on Intelsat’s application pending a government review. The IPO, which could result in the transfer of FCC licenses and authorizations, would be permissible as long as the commission includes conditions that Intelsat previously agreed to adhere to in 2007. Intelsat said in a letter to the department it would continue to comply with the conditions, which include the use of a committee that oversees “security issues related to Intelsat’s domestic communications network, records related to domestic communications, and electronic surveillance by U.S. federal, state, and local authorities.” The 2007 agreement to which the company will continue to adhere said Intelsat must be willing to assist with “lawfully authorized electronic surveillance” and provide notifications of board changes.
The FCC’s VoIP outage reporting order will impose rules fairly analogous to the obligations facing traditional TDM voice services, industry and agency officials said Tuesday. The order, scheduled for a vote at Wednesday’s FCC meeting, will limit VoIP outage reporting requirements to hard outages of a company’s own interconnected VoIP services, the officials said. A “hard outage” refers to calls that, once originated, cannot be terminated.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Giving the FCC significant added “jurisdiction over a slice of the ecosystem” in electronic privacy policy would be “a recipe for trouble ahead,” a cable attorney said. “They want to have a role in the future” of federal policy, but “I don’t think they know what that role will be,” Paul Glist of the Davis Wright law firm said late Monday. “They have been negotiating with people on the Hill and in industry about what that role might be -- and probably with the FTC as well.”
The FCC is seeking comment on the costs of its proposal to extend the Disaster Information Reporting System to include interconnected VoIP providers and broadband ISPs, said a notice set to appear in Tuesday’s Federal Register. DIRS is a voluntary, Web-based system that carriers can use to report infrastructure status during a crisis. “In recent years, communications have evolved from a circuit-switched network infrastructure to broadband networks,” the notice said. “Increasing numbers of consumers, businesses, and government agencies rely on broadband and interconnected VoIP services for everyday and emergency communications needs, including vital 9-1-1 services. It is therefore imperative that the Disaster Information Reporting System be expanded to include these new technologies in order for the Commission to gain an accurate picture of communications landscape during disasters.” The FCC is slated to vote on an order extending outage reporting to interconnected VoIP service providers at its meeting Wednesday.
The White House renewed an emphasis on wireless broadband in President Barack Obama’s FY 2013 budget, released Monday (www.budget.gov). “High-speed, wireless broadband is fast becoming a critical component of business operations and economic growth,” the budget said. “The United States needs to lead the world in providing broad access to the fastest networks possible.” The budget also proposes significant funding for cybersecurity research. In total, the 2013 budget proposes $140.8 billion for federal R&D, 1.4 percent more than the 2012-enacted level. The overall increase is the same as the rate of inflation.
House lawmakers will review the FCC budget and spending at a hearing scheduled for Thursday in the Communications Subcommittee, the Commerce Committee said. “As the subcommittee tasked with overseeing the Federal Communications Commission, members have a fiduciary duty to ensure independent agencies are using taxpayer dollars wisely,” the committee said. The Feb. 16 hearing is 9 a.m. in Room 2123, Rayburn Building, the committee said Thursday.
States are likely to see regulatory reforms going forward, panelists said at NARUC’s winter meeting Wednesday. But state legislators need to ensure that deregulation doesn’t harm consumers, some said.