SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The WiMAX industry may recall the battle of Rexburg as an early victory if it does emerge as a winner in the broadband wars. In that Idaho town of about 22,000 people, many in the hay, grain or potato business, 9.5 percent of those covered by one of the first commercial offerings of 802.16(e) are subscribing to portable wireless- broadband service, provider DigitalBridge Communications plans to announce next week, CEO Kelley Dunne said. The service was launched less than six months ago and is EBITDA positive, he said.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The WiMAX industry may recall the battle of Rexburg as an early victory if it does emerge as a winner in the broadband wars. In that Idaho town of about 22,000 people, many in the hay, grain or potato business, 9.5 percent of those covered by one of the first commercial offerings of 802.16(e) are subscribing to portable wireless- broadband service, provider DigitalBridge Communications plans to announce next week, CEO Kelley Dunne said. The service was launched less than six months ago and is EBITDA positive, he said.
“To expedite initial deployments of emergency alerts by commercial mobile service providers,” carriers shouldn’t have to send emergency warnings to areas smaller than counties, 3G Americas said. Carriers should work with the commission, the National Institute for Standards and Technology and the Department of Homeland Security “to research and develop technology that can be deployed for geo-targeting below the county level,” it said. The group was filing an ex-parte on meetings at the FCC where it made those arguments.
GENEVA -- An ITU framework for emergency cooperation links telecom operators and better regulatory practices to cut costs and mortality in disasters, officials said Monday at an ITU Global Forum on Effective Use of Telecommunications/ICT for Disaster Management.
Getting emergency alerts to non-English speakers is a goal of satellite broadcasters, but all face technical limitations in attempting to do so. Satellite TV and radio are national services, which complicates the task of providing local alerts, the FCC was told last week in comments. XM and Sirius jointly suggested providing emergency alerts on their channels dedicated to foreign languages. To do that, they need to receive the messages in those languages, they said. EchoStar can deliver two audio streams, allowing it “to offer national, bilingual EAS messages -- as long as the EAS message is provided by a government agency in a dual-audio format,” it said. EchoStar doesn’t want to scroll the same message in multiple languages, it said. “Scrolling of foreign languages is contrary to the time-sensitive nature of emergency situations,” it said. Nearly one American in five doesn’t speak English, EchoStar said, citing 2000 Census Bureau data, but a “ubiquitous national solution would be a poor fit” given the 380 languages spoken in the U.S. Local broadcasters should have the latitude to reach out appropriately to those who speak neither English nor Spanish, EchoStar said. DirecTV said it can pass through multiple audio feeds. For hearing impaired viewers, it suggested passing text messages through its closed- captioning system. “Because persons with hearing disabilities generally activate closed captioning, this should be a particularly effective way to reach them during a national emergency,” DirecTV said.
Department of Homeland Security names Chris Essid, ex-Virginia Office of Preparedness, director, Office of Emergency Communications… James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, becomes News Corp. chairman and CEO, Europe and Asia; James Murdoch also joins board, along with Natalie Bancroft… TitanTV Media promotes Mark Effron to president-chief operating officer… Among new board members at American National Standards Institute: James Turner, House Science Committee staff, Edward Mikoski, Telecom Industry Association.
New provisions on broadband mapping and 911 services are among amendments likely to be adopted in a multi- titled farm bill (HR-2419) on which the Senate resumed work Friday after nearly a month of inactivity. Leadership limited amendments to 40, half Democrat and half Republican. That forestalled a reprise of the amendment clog that paralyzed the measure on the floor as November began. Prospects for passage remain dim, with the White House vowing a veto.
New provisions on broadband mapping and 911 services are among amendments likely to be adopted in a multi-titled farm bill (HR-2419) on which the Senate resumed work Friday after nearly a month of inactivity. Leadership limited amendments to 40, half Democrat and half Republican. That forestalled a reprise of the amendment clog that paralyzed the measure on the floor as November began. Prospects for passage remain dim, with the White House vowing a veto.
The FCC shouldn’t automatically let cities and counties initiate emergency alerts, now triggered only by the President and by state authorities, said broadcasters, cable operators and telecommunications companies. Responding to a rulemaking, some TV industry filers said municipalities should send alerts to state agencies for redistribution to broadcast, cable and telco TV. A municipal body said authorizing cities to sound alerts would improve safety in disasters. Talks continue on multilingual alerts between broadcasters and advocates for people who don’t speak English (CD Nov 7 p4), another subject of the rulemaking, a participant said.
LAS VEGAS OLED TVs and pocket projectors are emerging slowly, but amid many barriers to mass marketing, including a need for those products to improve brightness and yield at lower cost, industry executives said at the iSuppli Flat Information Display conference here.