Three cable operators selling 122 AWS licenses went over the types of data they retain, in meetings last week with FCC staff, ex parte filings from Bright House Networks, Comcast and Time Warner Cable in docket 12-4 (http://xrl.us/bmwqge) show. Comcast executives “discussed issues relating to possible information and document requests” and talked about the types of data about video, voice and broadband the cable operator keeps, a filing said. That covered “information regarding Comcast’s costs, revenues, and operations and the geographic levels at which such information is aggregated,” the company said. Bright House lawyers talked about “the format and location of various financial and operational data within the company,” their filing said. Time Warner Cable reported discussing similar issues on Verizon Wireless’ purchase of the SpectrumCo.
Recently enacted spectrum legislation is aimed at making sure, for the first time, public safety officials have access to “next-generation technologies, services, devices and a framework that enables them to continue to have that kind of innovation going into the future,” Verizon Vice President Donald Brittingham said on a webinar Friday sponsored by NATOA. Speakers offered an early review of the spectrum provisions, two weeks after they were enacted by Congress as part of the payroll tax extension. The legislation moves first responders away from “legacy, niche-types of technologies and frequency bands that are not compatible” which they had to rely on in the past, Brittingham said. It should mean more use of technologies already available in the commercial sphere, from machine-to-machine communications to cloud computing, he said. “Connecting public safety to commercial technology and making sure that they have the ability to move with the marketplace as technology evolves is in my view one of the most critical things about this framework.” The $7 billion dedicated to building a network wouldn’t “go very far if public safety were forced to do this one on its own” and public-private partnerships will be critical, he said. “Interconnecting this public safety network with commercial networks we think is a key part of making sure that everybody around the country, all first responders, can get the best access.” Verizon wants to work with first responders to develop commercial devices that will meet their unique needs, Brittingham said. “We know there are very specialized needs that first responders have that can’t be met with a smartphone or an iPad.” Greg Rohde, executive director of the NG911 Institute, said the $115 million dedicated to next-generation 911 in the legislation will be helpful. While less than some lawmakers sought, that amount is “still very significant,” he said. “It remains to be seen how exactly it will be distributed.” It’s “going to require some level of coordination of state call centers” and grants will likely be distributed on a statewide basis, Rohde said. The legislation also only allows funding for applicants that certify that the state where they're located does not spend 911 fees collected from customers on something other than 911, he said. “There’s lots of questions about exactly how is that defined, how is that going to be enforced, but the requirement nonetheless does exist. Congress’s clear intention is that money should not be available to states that are diverting 911 funds.” It is also significant that the act requires the GAO to take another look at state diversion of 911 funds, he said.
Comcast went “'above and beyond’ ... to comply with the FCC’s conditions” on buying control of NBCUniversal, as shown by the cable operator’s first-annual compliance report (CD Feb 29 p5), a frequent opponent of regulation said. The many conditions show why the FCC’s deal review process ought to be reformed, Free State Foundation President Randolph May wrote Friday. An online video distributor’s dispute with Comcast/NBCUniversal over access to documents about the OVD’s programming deals with others is likely to be the first of many such controversies, “all quite foreseeable,” May wrote (http://xrl.us/bmwqfo). “There was no evidence -- as opposed to mere supposition -- that the costs imposed by the online video condition would not outweigh its benefits."
A district court erred when it ruled AT&T need not obtain a new cable franchise before streaming its U-verse video service along its existing Kentucky phone lines, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday, remanding the case to the lower court for further proceedings (http://xrl.us/bmwqfb). The district court had said AT&T’s perpetual statewide phone franchise, granted in 1886, “permits it to use its current facilities to transmit IP video services to customers in Hopkinsville.” In reversing, the 6th Circuit said the lower court had used the wrong standard of review, improperly assigning the burden of proof to the non-moving party, Mediacom. The district court also relied on “self-serving facts written by AT&T in a stipulated agreement” to make findings about the nature of the U-verse service, the new ruling said. “The district court stated that Mediacom’s claim turns on a single question -- whether the transmission of IP video signals is outside the scope of AT&T Kentucky’s existing franchise,” Judge Danny Boggs wrote. “This very well may be the proper question of law on a motion for summary judgment -- assuming there are no genuine issues of material fact -- but it is not the proper inquiry for a motion to dismiss,” which should simply question whether the plaintiff’s complaint includes enough facts “to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Regardless, there were genuine issues of fact, the court said, specifically whether to characterize U-verse as an evolution of its two-way phone service, or something conceptually different and more akin to one-way cable-TV service. “The line between television and telephone service was once quite concrete; it is now rather fuzzy,” Boggs wrote. “Balancing the requirements of restrictive franchising laws, drafted in a different era, poses a challenge for courts, as new technologies emerge that do not fit within the confines of increasingly antiquated terms like television and telephone. That inquiry, though, is for another day.” Judges Jane Stranch and James Carr backed the decision.
NTIA and the FCC should take quick action to make spectrum in the 1755-1850 MHz band available as quickly as possible, to meet carriers growing need for more spectrum, said Tony Russo, T-Mobile vice president-federal legislative affairs, in a Friday blog post (http://xrl.us/bmwqd8). Russo said it was disappointing that provisions mandating the auction of the band were stripped from recently enacted spectrum legislation at the urging of the Pentagon. “The band is significantly underutilized by the Department of Defense today, and we are confident that through a combination of relocating government systems to other frequencies (fully paid for from the proceeds of the auction) and, in certain cases, sharing the band between government and commercial users, we can make this spectrum available for mobile broadband services for the American people,” Russo said. “An auction will bring in tens of billions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury, almost twice as much as other non-internationally harmonized spectrum that has been identified for sale. And unlike the broadcast bands subject to the incentive auction provisions of the new law, the government spectrum could be brought to market in the relatively near future because of the viability of commercial-government band sharing.”
BendBroadband said its data center, which it calls “the Vault,” passed an audit on its compliance with a Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16 (SSAE 16) without exception. “We recognize that by successfully passing the SSAE 16 audit our customers are assured of the effectiveness of the Vault’s data security and internal control systems,” said Leonard Weitman, vice president of technical operations for BendBroadband.
The denial of a T-Mobile pole attachment request did not violate the Communications Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled in Virginia on Thursday, upholding a district court decision that the Fairfax County, Va., board of supervisors had acted within their authority (http://xrl.us/bmwqan). In 2009, T-Mobile had filed two applications with the board seeking to increase the height of an existing utility transmission pole by ten feet, so it could attach a wireless facility containing three five-foot tall panel antennas. Years earlier, AT&T and Verizon Wireless had received permission to place panel antennas lower down on the pole. The board rejected T-Mobile’s plans and the telco sued, arguing the board’s decision violated the Act’s provisions barring local governing bodies from unreasonably discriminating among similar service providers, and from prohibiting wireless services. “T-Mobile has failed to carry its heavy burden in this case,” Judge Barbara Keenan wrote. “T-Mobile failed to show that it lacks reasonable alternatives to provide service in the area at issue, and failed to show that further attempts to gain the Board’s approval would be futile.” The board’s decision was reasonable, and “based on the traditional zoning principle of aesthetic impact,” the court wrote. Judge Andre Davis dissented in part, writing that a reasonable fact-finder could conclude that T-Mobile had an “effective absence of coverage” in the vicinity of the intersection in question, and “no reasonable alternative sites” would fill the gap.
A cellphone with a Wilson ‘Sleek’ mobile signal booster installed in a vehicle “provides a 3 times increase in the overall coverage area of a single cell site for both voice and data service vs. a cell phone without a booster,” Wilson Electronics said in a report filed last week at the FCC. “A booster increases connectivity to distant cell sites that would normally be inaccessible without a booster.” Wilson submitted results from tests conducted in Utah, using signals from a single Verizon Wireless cell site. The tests found that in most cases, with the use of a booster, cellphones got data throughput rates of 200 kbps on the uplink side and 768 kbps for downlinks. “The booster enables vastly improved data throughput … while without the booster, there is no data throughput or very low throughput,” Wilson said.
Public Knowledge welcomed an FCC public notice released Thursday seeking comment on “concerns and issues” raised by the intentional interruption of CMRS service by government authorities for the purposes of protecting public safety (CD March 2 p 14). PK noted that it joined other groups in asking the FCC to rule on whether the Bay Area Rapid Transit authority violated the Communications Act in August when it cut wireless service at one transit station in the interest of public safety. “We agree with FCC Chairman [Julius ] Genachowski that any such cutoff raises ’serious legal and policy issues, and must meet a very high bar,'” the group said. “The same wireless network that police see as a tool for rioters to coordinate is the same wireless network used by peaceful protesters to exercise our fundamental freedoms. More than that, in any event, the network will be necessary for people in the area to call for help or to let family members know they are not harmed.” The courts, not the FCC, need to step in, said TechFreedom. “What BART did clearly violated the First Amendment, and needlessly put passengers at risk by cutting off emergency services just when they were needed most,” the group said. “But we need a court to say so, not the FCC. The FCC has no authority here. The state did not order the shutdown of the network, nor does the state run the network. BART simply turned off equipment it doesn’t own -- a likely violation of its contractual obligations to the carriers."
A federal jury in Boston convicted the owner of TCNISO Thursday of seven counts of wire fraud for allegedly helping thousands of people steal Internet service, said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz. Ryan Harris, 26, of Portland, Ore., and his company TCNISO allegedly developed and distributed software from 2003 to 2009 which let customers modify their cable modems to disguise themselves as paying subscribers and obtain Internet service for free. “Mr. Harris tried to hide behind the banner of freedom of access to the Internet, but the evidence established that he built a million dollar business helping customers steal Internet service,” Breuer said. Harris could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each of the seven counts. His sentencing will be May 23 before Chief District Court Judge Mark Wolf.