The government’s delay in releasing a report on export control reforms continues to prevent movement on legislation that would relax regulation of satellite components, House Foreign Affairs Committee staffer David Fite told the Satellite 2012 conference late Wednesday. HR-3288, introduced last year by House Foreign Affairs Ranking Member Howard Berman, D-Calif. (CD Nov 3 p13), remains in limbo as a result of the slowness, Fite said. The bill would give the Executive Office of the President authority to remove commercial satellites and components from a munitions list closely regulated by the State Department.
The following are trade-related highlights of the Executive Communications sent to Congress for March 1 - 14, 2012:
A deregulation bill (SB 135) in Kentucky faced sharp criticism and even got the state attorney general’s attention, though state regulators were neutral after revisions were made. Meanwhile, while the industry saw another bill (HB 209) in the state that would establish outage reporting requirements as burdensome, supporters said the measure is “modest” and necessary.
The satellite industry made some short-term regulatory strides this year at the World Radiocommunication Conference, though problems remain on the horizon, said Romain Bausch, CEO of SES. Growing concern from smaller nations over their access to spectrum and orbital slots may need to be addressed in coming years, he said Tuesday at the Satellite 2012 conference.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said an FCC order’s “unintended consequences” could make some emergency alert system messages originated in a FEMA-designed format useless. The agency petitioned the commission to revisit a January order (CD Jan 12 p8) on the new Common Alerting Protocol format to reverse its ban on text-to-speech EAS warnings. By not allowing such warnings where government agencies originating alerts send scripts of the warnings without also transmitting audio, some transmissions may not go through at all and others may only have warning tones and no actual message, the petition said. “No EAS Participants transmit the full detail alert message and the public is left to make life saving decisions based upon a 90-character” alert from participating wireless carriers “alone,” under one scenario.
T-Mobile agreed with TracFone that rules on cutting off service to Lifeline customers “should be based on uniform requirements and should follow uniform procedures.” Last month, TracFone filed a petition asking the commission to reject a decision by the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board to deny Lifeline support for at least a year to all subscribers there found to have received support from multiple eligible telecommunications carriers (CD Feb 24 p 13). Like TracFone, T-Mobile has subscribers in Puerto Rico. “Lifeline can make the difference in whether low-income consumers can access vital economic and educational opportunities and crucial emergency services,” T-Mobile said (http://xrl.us/bmxusk). “As TracFone points out, with the knowledge that an issue existed with duplicate enrollment in a number of states, the Commission began a dialogue that culminated in the Industry Dispute Resolution Process (IDRP), which effectively has been codified in the new rules. ... T-Mobile believes it is possible to eliminate duplicative and fraudulent payments without denying the benefits of Lifeline to eligible subscribers. Sprint Nextel also filed in support of TracFone. “Sprint agrees that Commission guidance will help to ensure that eligible end users in Puerto Rico receive federal Lifeline benefits to which they are entitled, while simultaneously reducing program inefficiencies and promoting an environment in which carriers can continue to provide much-needed telecommunications services to residential customers in Puerto Rico efficiently and effectively,” Sprint said (http://xrl.us/bmxuty). The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates said the steps taken by the Puerto Rican board are contrary to federal universal service policy” and should be addressed by the FCC. “In particular, the Puerto Rico Board’s approach denies otherwise eligible Lifeline consumers the federal benefit of one Lifeline service per household by barring the consumer all Lifeline support, contrary to the FCC’s new regulatory framework established by the [January] Lifeline Reform Order,” NASUCA said (http://xrl.us/bmxuzo). The Puerto Rico board fired back that “nothing in the Commission’s Lifeline Reform Order requires the Board to adopt the IDRP.” The steps it takes are consistent with FCC rules, the board said (http://xrl.us/bmxus3). “Consistent with its authority under Commonwealth law, and within the framework set forth by the Commission, the Board is taking steps to reform the Lifeline program in Puerto Rico. Although the Commission’s Lifeline Reform Order explained how the IDRP program had been successful, it did not mandate that this was the only process for eliminating waste and fraud.”
The co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission denounced the jurisdictional conflicts over the Senate’s cybersecurity approaches, in a letter sent Monday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., told the leaders that comprehensive legislation is needed to address the nation’s cybersecurity response and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is the right committee to handle it. “This homeland security issue is too critical for it to succumb” to the “jurisdictional and procedural objections to considering cybersecurity legislation,” they said. Last week Senate leaders from at least six different committees sparred over the merits of two dueling cybersecurity bills, the SECURE IT Act (S-2151) and the Cybersecurity Act (S-2105) (CD March 2 p8). Much like the days before the Sept. 11 attacks, the federal government is “not adequately organized to deal with a significant emerging national security threat,” the letter said. “With cyber attacks becoming more sophisticated and pervasive, it is paramount that the federal government takes the steps necessary to prepare the nation to prevent and mitigate the effects of potentially catastrophic cyber attacks on the nation’s critical infrastructure,” it said.
The co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission denounced the jurisdictional conflicts over the Senate’s cybersecurity approaches, in a letter sent Monday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., told the leaders that comprehensive legislation is needed to address the nation’s cybersecurity response and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is the right committee to handle it. “This homeland security issue is too critical for it to succumb” to the “jurisdictional and procedural objections to considering cybersecurity legislation,” they said. Last week Senate leaders from at least six different committees sparred over the merits of two dueling cybersecurity bills, the SECURE IT Act (S-2151) and the Cybersecurity Act (S-2105) (WID March 2 p1). Much like the days before the Sept. 11 attacks, the federal government is “not adequately organized to deal with a significant emerging national security threat,” the letter said. “With cyber attacks becoming more sophisticated and pervasive, it is paramount that the federal government takes the steps necessary to prepare the nation to prevent and mitigate the effects of potentially catastrophic cyber attacks on the nation’s critical infrastructure,” it said.
Potentially slow adoption of Blu-ray players, and competition from streaming content where there’s no standard for multi-channel audio, could strike a blow to future DTS, Inc. revenue, the company said in its 10-K filed with the SEC last week. Blu-ray is a “significant driver” of the high-definition audio company’s revenue and future growth, the company said.
BERLIN -- The U.S. and Germany differed with other countries over the length of time to delay remedies for creditors of satellite projects when public services are involved. The differences were aired at a diplomatic conference for adoption of a space assets protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment according to documents, speakers and interviews. An official from a country with a strong satellite industry said a definition of public services is needed. Executives attending the conference were from Astrium, BHO Legal, EADS, Eutelsat, Intelsat, Munich Re, SES and Thales Alenia Space.