The House Telecom Subcommittee released the witness list for its hearing today (Wed.) on wireless E-911 implementation: John Muleta, FCC Wireless Bureau chief; Dale Hatfield, U. of Colo. prof., Department of Interdisciplinary Telecommunications; John Melcher, National Emergency Number Assn. pres.; Karl Korsmo, AT&T Wireless external affairs vp; James Callahan, MobileTel pres.-CEO; Michael O'Connor, Verizon federal regulatory policy dir.; Michael Amarosa, TruePosition senior vp. The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m., Rm/ 2123, Rayburn Bldg.
The USTA said bankruptcy rules should be revised to prevent “blatant abuse” by companies that filed for Ch. 11 protection, then emerged as tougher competitors because their debt had been reduced or eliminated. “The nation shouldn’t have to endure another WorldCom,” USTA Pres. Walter McCormick said at Supercomm. He said some companies avoided paying even minimal tax on shedding their debt, and the bankruptcy code should be revised to assure that “the interests of companies that mismanage their finances do not come before those of taxpayers, investors and businesses that conduct themselves in a financially responsible manner.”
Rural youth is ahead of the wireless curve with 78% of rural teenagers already owning a cellphone -- far above the national average estimated at 30%-40%, a study by NTCA and the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) said. It predicted wireless penetration of the U.S. youth market as a whole wouldn’t reach 75% until 2006. “Young people have become the ‘early adopters’ of the telecom industry. They are the telecom subscriber base of tomorrow,” NTCA wireless analyst Athena Platis said at a news briefing on the study Mon. She said identifying teenagers’ telecom preferences was “critical” to rural telcos wanting to capture their business and gain their long-term brand loyalty. The study said despite the high number of mobile users, text messaging was significantly less popular with rural teens. While on a national level, 28% of teens said they sent or received at least one text message a day, 63% of rural teens said they never used it, 19% rarely and only 6% frequently, the study said. About 93% of rural teens used postpaid plans and only 7% used prepaid plans. Nationally, prepaid subscriber accounts make up less than 10% of the wireless market, the study said. Parents drive the wireless youth market, purchasing almost 60% of phones, with nearly all of the remaining 40% of teenagers paying for their own cellphones and services. The research found teens had disposable income of $400 a month, and 64% of rural teens said they spent $26- $50 a month on cellphone services. “Telcos hoping to gain young customers should update product portfolios accordingly,” Platis said. The “cellphone as safety device” mentality is gaining momentum, she said. She cited Yankee Group research showing that 60% of parents listed “security and emergency purposes” as the primary reason for giving a cellphone to their teenager. Platis said several states, such as Cal., Ill., Md., Nev. and Va., had repealed statewide bans on cellphones in schools. The study said more than 60% of rural teens were primary users of landline phone service for local calls. However, 8% said they used their wireless phone on a daily basis and 7% said they had completely abandoned their landline phones. The study said only 7% of rural teens chose their provider based on service quality, while almost 39% made their decisions based on the minutes package provided. Of those who didn’t have a cellphone, almost 46% said it was too expensive, 32% said they didn’t need it, 11% cited poor service and 1.6% service availability. Web surfers were slowly switching to high- speed Internet connection, the report said. It said 57% of respondents named dial-up as their mode of Internet connection, down from 69% a year earlier, but DSL still came in 2nd with 69% of the market. Cable and wireless accounted for 13% and 4%, respectively, the study said. It said as high-speed connections became more common, the time spent online decreased, with 40% of respondents saying they spent less than one hour a day online. It said rural teens were moving away from music, news and sports pages towards academic (42%) and entertainment-focused (31%) sites. There’s a “window of opportunity” to gain new wireless and wireline customers between the beginning of the last year at high school and the end of the first year at college, when young people “begin to exercise their telecom preferences and seem to migrate toward products that allow for customization,” Platis said. She said as 58% of respondents plan to live in rural area after they get their degrees, “rural carriers could benefit from building strong customer relationships now with what will be their subscriber base of tomorrow.”
ATLANTA -- The proliferation of easy access to information about hacking means “every kid without a date on Friday night can attack the network,” said William Hancock, chief security officer of Cable & Wireless. He was one of several speakers on network security in the opening day of the Supercomm convention here, which included a “Report to the Nation” by the FCC’s Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC).
Media companies need to include the possibility of deliberate sabotage in their planning for media reliability, a task force recommended Wed. to the FCC’s Media Security & Reliability Council (MSRC). Homeland Security Dept. Secy. Tom Ridge called public information communication “one of the most critical pieces of national response to crisis” and an element of homeland security that could help the nation in its development toward “a new and better level of readiness.”
Rep. Meek (D-Fla.), a member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, introduced a bill charging the Dept. of Homeland Security to develop an emergency telephonic alert notification system. It would notify U.S. households and business in case of national, regional or local emergency and provide information about appropriate protective measures. American Teleservices Assn. (ATA) Chmn. Thomas Rocca said “ground-breaking first steps were taken… in forging an arrangement by which the teleservices industry could be asked to assist in rapidly disseminating information to the public in cases of national emergency.” The ATA said the system, called the Responsive Emergency Alert & Dissemination of Information Call System (READICall System), would utilize existing telephone system resources in both govt. agencies and private sector companies.
The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) must move faster to ensure adoption by local first responders of interoperable communications equipment, numerous members of Congress told DHS Secy. Tom Ridge last week. Over the course of 2 days of hearings, more than a dozen members of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security raised the interoperability issue, with Rep. Weldon (R-Pa.) also pressing for more spectrum for public safety users. Ridge apparently got the message, because when asked by Rep. Lucas (D-Ky.) what he believed was the top priority for communities involving homeland security, Ridge responded: “What I've heard is, from just about everybody, it’s communications equipment.”
A steering council on wireless Enhanced 911 handed a “priority action plan” to Transportation Secy. Norman Mineta Thurs., stressing the need for cost recovery and a single point of contact among stakeholders in each state. Mineta convened the steering council, including public safety, telecom and highway safety officials, last year. “Time is of the essence, not only because the FCC’s 2005 deadline for deployment of wireless E911 Phase 2 is looming, but also because increasing consumer reliance on wireless phones is an increasing problem for public safety when we can’t locate the caller in an emergency,” said National Assn. of State 911 Administrators (NASNA) Pres. Evelyn Bailey, who chaired the council.
Another initiative to promote legitimate online music services and confront online music piracy was announced in London Wed. by international alliance of performers, record companies and retailers. New Web site, www.pro-music.org, comes as several new paid-for online music services are emerging in Europe. Site, backed by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and other trade groups, includes what supporters called “biggest international repository of information on the growing number of legitimate online music sites now offering more than 200,000 songs to consumers.” Site also features step-by-step guide to processes, viewpoints on piracy debate from artists, media and public, and answers to questions about copyright laws for online music. IFPI Chmn. Jay Berman said: “The success in the U.S. of Apple’s iTunes, which saw sales of over 1 million songs in less than a week, is proof that if it’s done right, music lovers want to get music in a way that rewards the artists and creators -- that is, by paying for it.” Pro-music.org public awareness campaign on illegal copying and distribution of music joins efforts elsewhere, such as “musicunited.org” in U.S., “Save Music” in Japan, “Keepmusiccoming.com” in Canada and “BRN>BRNT” in New Zealand. But Pro-music.org founders called it first international venture, with plans to roll out on national level in several European countries in coming year. Key feature is “Music Online” section with international listing of online digital music services and retailers, including links to music download sites and other sources of information about online music. Section titled “On Copyright” explains why copyright is needed, lists applicable laws and provides technical explanation on how to reset or uninstall file-sharing software. IFPI said world music sales totaled $32 billion in 2002, down 7% from 2001. Commercially pirated music totaled 1.9 billion units worldwide in 2001 -- worth $4.3 billion at pirate prices and accounting for 40% of all recordings sold, group said. Online music file sharing is other thorn in industry side, IFPI saying there were more than 5 million users with access to more than 1 billion files at any one time on peer-to-peer networks worldwide. Number of music CD-Rs burned now is on par with number of albums sold worldwide, group said. Meanwhile, Europe now has at least 10 Internet sites where consumers can buy music downloads or subscriptions to music online services, with access to more than 200,000 music tracks. IFPI said latest Jupiter Survey in Europe found that 37% of people who had downloaded or traded files on Internet said they were willing to pay for music online from legitimate sources.
Community Bcstrs. Assn. (CBA) and National Translator Assn. (NTA) usually are together on FCC matters, but a split emerged in latter’s request that Commission establish a new rural translator service (CD May 20 p9). CBA told the Commission “it makes more sense to encourage” the startup of more low-power TV stations -- which offer localism and public service programming -- rather than “to give priority to repeaters that never originate programming.” CBA said “NTA’s proposal almost surely would lead to abusive practices” by attracting “speculators.”