Telecom companies resisted cybersecurity regulation in written testimony (http://xrl.us/bmw9wp) submitted in advance of Wednesday’s hearing in the House Communications Subcommittee. Cybersecurity legislation should not impose new regulation on the communications sector, which could have “unintended consequences” that “stifle Internet innovation,” said AT&T Chief Security Officer Edward Amoroso. “Cyber adversaries are dynamic and increasingly sophisticated, and do not operate under a laboriously defined set of rules or processes. The challenges we face in cyber security simply cannot be solved by imposing slow moving, bureaucratic processes on those who build, operate in, and use cyber space.” Comcast Vice President Jason Livingood agreed: “Attempting to impose uniform cybersecurity solutions could actually be counterproductive, by enabling an attacker that cracks a single solution to compromise multiple systems, and by slowing down or constraining our ability to rapidly develop innovative cybersecurity solutions.” CenturyLink “strongly caution[s] against a traditional regulatory approach based on government mandates or ‘performance requirements,'” said Chief Security Officer David Mahon. “CenturyLink and our industry peers already have the strongest commercial incentives to invest in, and maintain robust cybersecurity.” MetroPCS has avoided cyberattacks without any government mandates, said Chief Information Officer John Olsen: “Private sector companies like MetroPCS are already well incented to protect their networks because their customers would have a negative reaction to cyber intrusion, especially one that disrupts service on the network or exposes CPNI or customer personal information.” The hearing is at 10 a.m. in Room 2123, Rayburn Building.
Comments regarding the Lifeline Reform further notice of proposed rulemaking are due April 2, according to an FCC public notice released Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bmw9po). The commission issued the further notice Feb. 6, seeking comment on several proposals to further reform its universal service Lifeline program. Replies are due May 1.
It’s a lack of opportunity not lack of intent that has kept Adams Cable Equipment from selling many retail cable boxes, its lawyer said in a meeting with an FCC Media Bureau official, according to an ex parte notice describing that meeting. Baja Broadband, a cable operator with a waiver to buy Adams’ refurbished integrated-security set-top boxes, has just 12,000 subscribers, the letter said. “The number of retail devices that ACE has sold in this limited market would translate to thousands of boxes annually if ACE could sell in the markets of numerous small operators, or tens of thousands if it could sell nationally,” it said. Adams is not suggesting that such retail sales would “satisfy” Section 629 of the Communications Act, it said. “But there can be no doubt that retail availability of low-cost set-top boxes would advance the goals of Section 629,” it said. Adams has sought a waiver from the FCC’s band on selling CableCARD-less set-top boxes that would allow it to sell its refurbished boxes to more cable operators.
The U.S. government gave AT&T Government Solutions an Omnibus Network Enterprises (ONE) contract, the company said Tuesday. The Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract is valued at up to $476 million over five years. It will “serve as a vehicle for AT&T and its suppliers to provide a wide range of information technology and telecommunications services to federal agencies and departments,” AT&T said. AT&T’s ONE team will include other government providers like Raytheon, Henkels & McCoy Networks, Daston Corporation, Zavda Technologies, Consulting Services, SSC and Interferometrics.
The FCC should “stop the clock” on its consideration of Verizon Wireless’s buy of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox, until the companies file unredacted versions of various associated marketing agreements, said competitors, trade associations and public interest groups in a letter to the agency. “The Applicants claim that the Commercial Agreements are neither anticompetitive nor relevant to this proceeding,” the letter said (http://xrl.us/bmw9gq). “Although they have submitted those agreements into the record, they redacted extensive portions of the documents that they unilaterally deemed too sensitive for disclosure even subject to the stringent confidentiality provisions of the Protective Orders issued in this proceeding.” Among those signing the letter were Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, DirecTV, Free Press, Public Knowledge and the Media Access Project, as well as the Rural Cellular Association and the Rural Telecommunications Group. “If, as the Applicants contend, the redacted materials are not relevant to this proceeding, then after reviewing them, all concerned will be free to turn their attention to other issues in this proceeding,” the letter said. “It is disappointing, yet not surprising that Verizon has refused to release unredacted documents regarding the proposed spectrum acquisitions of SpectrumCo and Cox,” said RCA President Steve Berry. “This is obviously another attempt by a market dominant company to shut out competitors, and the FCC should not allow such conduct. After AT&T’s failure to acquire T-Mobile, the FCC, more than any other agency, should understand the serious competitive concerns from further consolidation in the industry.” Tuesday was officially day 47 of the commission’s review of the Verizon/cable deals. “The cross-marketing agreements are redacted to protect sensitive business information, such as pricing, that would undermine competition and ultimately harm consumers,” said a Verizon spokesman. “Officials at the FCC who have inquired about the agreements, and the Department of Justice, who require access to the full versions of the agreements for purposes of its review, have access to them.” The “cross-marketing agreements are redacted to protect sensitive business information, such as pricing, that would undermine competition and ultimately harm consumers,” said a Verizon spokesman. “Officials at the FCC who have inquired about the agreements, and the Department of Justice, who require access to the full versions of the agreements for purposes of its review, have access to them."
Alcatel-Lucent introduced a commercial 400 Gbps chip for fiber optic networks, the company said Tuesday. The chip, the Photonic Service Engine, offers double capacity and four times the speed of other networks, it said. The PSE will “bring substantial improvements to 100G coherent optical networks” and will lay “the foundation for the smooth migration to 400G networks in the future,” the company said. The chip is designed to be used in a family of line cards in the Alcatel-Lucent 1830 Photonic Service Switch, which is used in more than 120 networks today.
Verizon North is installing digital subscriber line access multiplexer facilities in Middleburg, Pa., according to an FCC public notice released Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bmw9c4). The implementation will be on or after March 23.
Operators should have an encryption “transition plan,” said a maker of consumer electronics connecting to cable systems through unencrypted clear QAM. Hauppauge Computer Works said the plan will “minimize consumer costs, minimize power consumption” and let CE companies “continue to sell ATSC and clear QAM TV products.” But the company still believes encrypting the basic-programming tier would cause “harm to the environment,” said an FCC filing from CEO Ken Plotkin posted Monday in docket 11-169 (http://xrl.us/bmw9bz). The Media Bureau is working on an order to OK scrambling channels, with some consumers to get free set-top boxes and other CE gear (CD March 2 p2) and Hauppauge among the CE companies pushing for operators to use radio-frequency traps so clear QAM works in all-digital systems. The first transition step is for the companies to “alert their customers” of the elimination of clear QAM, and then subscribers should get a digital-to-digital (DTD) converter box, Hauppauge said. “Cable operators should provide, upon request, to any customer who subscribes to any level of cable TV service, up to two ‘free of charge’ DTD boxes” and the devices shouldn’t downconvert programming, the company said. “Support the S3 power down mode, to cut power consumption to close to 0 when the DTD box is not being used. Though not as energy efficient as clear QAM cable TV (which requires no power), S3 mode brings the power consumed by the DTD box to as low a level as possible."
The Educational Media Foundation remains “very concerned about any proposed limit on the number of applications remaining from the 2003 FM translator window that any one applicant can process,” the translator owner said of a coming FCC order (March 2 p17). EMF challenged a limit of 10 applicants per entity that the agency earlier adopted, “and remains opposed to such retroactive limits on already-filed translator applications,” a lawyer for the broadcaster reported Monday in docket 99-25 (http://xrl.us/bmw86u) telling aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Robert McDowell.
The House Commerce Committee’s request for LightSquared documents from the FCC (CD March 2 p13) was a “big move” toward confirming FCC nominees Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told us. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, won’t lift a block he has placed on the nominees until he gets documents on communications among the FCC, White House and LightSquared investor Harbinger. “What I've heard is that Sen. Grassley simply wanted to get his hands on those emails, and he’s getting them” from the House Commerce Committee, the Senate Commerce Committee chairman said after the weekly Senate policy lunches on Tuesday. “It’s my belief that [Grassley] doesn’t care so much where he gets [the documents] from but that he gets them.”