The FCC opened a proceeding to develop a national broadband plan, at its meeting Wednesday. Commissioners unanimously approved a notice of inquiry on the plan, asking a laundry list of questions on how to effectively and efficiently spur broadband deployment and adoption. The FCC must deliver a plan to Congress by Feb. 17, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has posted remarks made by Acting Under Secretary Hill at BIS' Fourth Annual Export Control Forum on March 16, 2009.
AT&T and Verizon are in agreement that the 700 MHz D- block should be allocated to public safety rather than offered at auction a second time. To make that happen would take an act of Congress, public safety and wireless industry officials said Tuesday. The plan is raising concern among public safety groups and outright opposition by small carriers who see the proposal as a way for the two heavyweights to guarantee that the 10 MHz of spectrum doesn’t fall into each other’s or competitors’ hands.
The FCC should require all wireless microphones to cease operation in the 700 MHz band by Feb. 18, 2010, said CTIA and three public safety groups in a letter to the FCC Tuesday. CTIA, APCO, the National Emergency Number Association and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council have advocated for 700 MHz wireless mic shutdown before (CD March 19 p13), but Tuesday’s letter contained more concessions to wireless mic makers who have opposed them. The groups said they'd prefer to clear devices on June 12 -- the day of the DTV transition -- but would support a Feb. 18 deadline as long as the FCC ensures “any public safety or commercial systems deployed prior” to that date “can operate free of any interference from wireless microphones or other LPAS devices.” A Feb. 18 deadline “would provide an additional twelve months beyond the date originally proposed by the Commission in the 700 MHz Wireless Microphone Notice, and a transition period of eighteen months from the release of that notice,” they said. CTIA and the other groups proposed a 60- day notification process whereby any 700 MHz licensee intending to start operations before Feb. 18 would provide advance notice to wireless mic users in the market. Wireless mic operations would be required to cease within the 60-day period, they said. The groups also urged the FCC to issue a consumer advisory alerting wireless mic users that they must vacate the 700 MHz band, and notifying equipment makers and others that they must stop manufacturing, selling and marketing mics made for the band. The FCC must act quickly, they said. “Absent prompt Commission action, interference and communications disruption in the 700 MHz band are inevitable -- to first responders, to broadband customers, and to users of wireless microphones.”
Beating a full-scale retreat from last year’s enthusiastic experimentation with Web video initiatives, cable operators and programmers are struggling to figure out how to offer traditional cable network fare online without hurting their successful financial model for delivering pay- TV.
Rising termination rates, regulatory transparency and equipment trade topped concerns in an annual review of U.S. international telecom trade agreements, the U.S. Trade Representative said. The review is based on public comments filed by interested parties. Eight companies and trade associations and two foreign governments commented or replied to comments.
Rising termination rates, regulatory transparency and equipment trade topped concerns in an annual review of U.S. international telecom trade agreements, the U.S. Trade Representative said. The review is based on public comments filed by interested parties. Eight companies and trade associations and two foreign governments commented or replied to comments.
Beating a full-scale retreat from last year’s enthusiastic experimentation with Web video initiatives, cable operators and programmers are struggling to figure out how to offer traditional cable network fare online without hurting their successful financial model for delivering pay- TV.
Beating a full-scale retreat from last year’s enthusiastic experimentation with Web video initiatives, cable operators and programmers are struggling to figure out how to offer traditional cable network fare online without hurting their successful financial model for delivering pay- TV.
The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board got a glimpse of two vastly different regimes for information security in federal agencies during a discussion Friday with John Streufert, chief information security officer at the State Department, and Mike Carleton, chief information officer at Heath and Human Services. Streufert highlighted the security improvements at USAID and State after undertaking a program of continuous monitoring, and Carleton talked about the budgetary battles at HHS that undermine information security, and potential challenges ahead as a national health information network is developed.