Telcos spoke out against expanding network outage reporting requirements to VoIP, but the proposed rules got a warm endorsement from the Utilities Telecom Council, NATOA and the National Emergency Numbering Association. T-Mobile, Lariat, XO Communications, CTIA and others said expanded requirements would be unduly burdensome and probably wouldn’t make much of a difference. “Information on broadband reliability is already collected and shared between industry participants and government entities,” CTIA said (http://xrl.us/bmfu7g). UTC and others said they recognized “there will be some practical difficulties” but “on balance, the benefits should outweigh the burdens” (http://xrl.us/bmfu7n).
Charlotte, N.C., picked Alcatel-Lucent to build a 700 MHz LTE network for first responders there. The city received a $16.7 million NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant to pay part of its costs. Charlotte has emerged as one of the fastest movers among those building 700 MHz public safety networks, and hopes to have part of its system in place next year when the Democratic National Convention convenes there (CD Sept 15 p1). “The City carefully evaluated vendor proposals to deploy the network and selected one that would best meet the performance requirements of the 4G LTE network and the City’s need for operational and maintenance support,” according to a news release. “Alcatel-Lucent was awarded the contract because of their proven experience in implementation, operations and support of cellular infrastructure technology."
Upgrading emergency call centers around the nation for next generation 911 technology may cost between $1.4 billion and $2.6 billion, FCC Engineering Fellow Henning Schulzrinne said Thursday. “You should take these figures with a very large grain of salt,” Schulzrinne said, because they come from a relatively small sample size, but it gives an estimate of what it will take to upgrade America’s emergency communications system. Schulzrinne spoke at a conference in Wheaton, Ill., hosted by Illinois Institute of Technology. The National Emergency Numbering Association’s top lobbyist, Trey Forgety, said the “next couple of rounds of regulation” are going to center around the need for imposing location technology in information and telecom networks so it’s easier for call centers to get data. “There seems to be general agreement that this is a standards-based method that works,” Forgety said. “It’s just a matter of cost -- and when.” Schulzrinne agreed, saying he was skeptical about carriers’ claims that location technology will impose heavy costs upon them. He pointed out that Thursday morning he had gotten a message from Verizon saying that the company was now going to put targeted ads on his FiOS home page using location data.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski offered reassurance Thursday, in a speech at FCC headquarters as he prepared to circulate the FCC’s version of Universal Service Fund and intercarrier comp overhaul, most likely late Thursday evening. Genachowski’s speech was short on details on how his proposal differs from plans already before the commission, particularly the ABC plan. Instead, he reassured consumers they have nothing to fear and that the proposed reforms will, in the long run, drive down the size of their monthly phone bills.
Transition to a Next Generation 911 system, technical solutions like call prioritization and rerouting, procedure and policy changes are answers to 911 overloading issues, speakers said during the 911 Industry Alliance’s 911 workshop Wednesday. But many solutions have issues like funding that need to be addressed, they said.
The U.S. must confront leaders in Beijing about the cyberattacks emerging from China and do more to shore up domestic cybersecurity, members of the House Intelligence Committee said at a hearing Tuesday. They said the attacks have increasingly targeted businesses to the detriment of the U.S. economy and competitiveness abroad.
On September 29, 2011, senior U.S. and Salvadoran officials continued discussions on an aggressive set of actions designed to increase economic growth in El Salvador. The discussions, which were carried out under the aegis of President Obama's Partnership for Growth (PFG) effort with El Salvador, included representatives from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), among others.
A House Communications Subcommittee markup of spectrum legislation appears likely to get pushed into next week, with no markup scheduled so far, public safety officials said during a press conference Monday. A markup was expected Tuesday or Wednesday (CD Sept 28 p13). The bill before the subcommittee does not allocate the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, a top goal of many public safety officials.
New Jersey is getting a new emergency alert system, as broadcasters and pay-TV providers in all states prepare for a simultaneous EAS test Nov. 9 (CD Sept 23 p8). New Jersey’s statewide communications system EMnet will be part of a national network and should be installed by Nov. 1, the state’s broadcaster association said in a weekly newsletter to members on Friday. “With the installation of this equipment, we took a giant step forward in insuring [sic] that critical EAS messaging will not fail,” as it has before for EAS tests and for AMBER alerts, New Jersey Broadcasters Association President Paul Rotella wrote. “Our interoperability will reach beyond our borders to include Pennsylvania, Delaware, DC and Maryland, as well as the future prospect of having NYC included in our network through their [Office of Emergency Management], which has indicated that they will be following New Jersey’s lead."
NAIROBI -- NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling sent a strong warning at the Internet Governance Forum Tuesday: “The future of the Internet is at risk. The multi-stakeholder model is being challenged.” Strickling pointed to “more and more instances of restrictions on the free flow of information, disputes between standards bodies and even appeals from incumbent carriers for government intervention on the terms and conditions for exchanging Internet traffic."