General Communication Inc. “stands ready” to ensure voice and broadband service continue to exist if Adak Eagle Enterprises (AEE) and Windy City Cellular go under, GCI told the FCC Friday (http://bit.ly/ZiMB8Z). AEE and subsidiary Windy City have been seeking waivers of some USF reforms, without which the companies say they may cease providing service on the Alaskan island. “If AEE ceases providing broadband service as a result of the Commission denying AEE’s petition for waiver, GCI will provide broadband through a wireless broadband service similar to that it offers in Dutch Harbor,” the telco said: GCI can afford to provide service not because of “phantom customers” -- as it said AEE has claimed. GCI provides service on Adak within the FCC’s $3,000 per line annual high cost support “by providing service efficiently and by spreading common costs across all its Alaska operations,” the telco said.
The FCC Technology Transitions Policy Task Force sought comment on its proposal (CD May 13 p1) to “move forward with real-world trials to obtain data that will be helpful” in determining which policies will best promote investment and innovation while protecting consumers, it said in a public notice Friday (http://bit.ly/ZiMmdZ). Comments are due July 8 in docket 13-5, replies Aug. 7.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a bill to extend Fourth Amendment privacy protections to electronic communications and require warrants for government agencies to obtain such information. The Fourth Amendment Preservation and Protection Act (S-1037) aims to provide “much needed clarity and reassert Fourth Amendment protections for records held by third parties,” said Paul in a news release Thursday. “In today’s high-tech world, we must ensure that all forms of communication are protected,” he said. “Congress has passed a variety of laws that decimate our Fourth Amendment protections. In effect, it means that Americans can only count on Fourth Amendment protections if they don’t use e-mail, cell phones, the Internet, credit cards, libraries, banks, or other forms of modern finance and communications.” Separately, 57 groups representing civil liberties and public interest groups said in a letter sent Friday to Attorney General Eric Holder the Justice Department’s “overreaching subpoena of AP phone records sets a dangerous precedent.” “The Obama administration promised a new era of openness and transparency. Your actions, which expand secrecy and intimidate those trying to shed more light on our government, run counter to that promise,” the letter said. The groups asked Holder to provide a “full accounting” of the department’s targeting of journalists and whistleblowers and “explain its overreach in this matter.” Signers included the ACLU, Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Library Association and Common Cause.
The future of the EAGLE-Net Alliance will be the focus of a June 12 meeting in Durango, Colo. EAGLE-Net is a $100.6 million Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grantee tasked with connecting Colorado’s schools. NTIA suspended it for five months and it now faces financial struggles and a search for a third-party operator (CD May 8 p12) that will provide funds to continue building out on Colorado’s western slope, despite persistent concerns from critics. The office of Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., is soliciting feedback from stakeholders throughout the state, according to emails shown to us. “Thank you for providing feedback to the federal delegation representatives,” Monisha Merchant, Bennet’s senior adviser for business affairs, wrote in a Thursday email to stakeholders. “NTIA staff will come to Durango on June 12th to meet with stakeholders across Western Colorado and answer your questions regarding the EAGLE-Net project.” NTIA confirmed this meeting to us and characterized it as part of the federal government’s ongoing efforts to oversee the broadband stimulus grantee and find win-win solutions for interested stakeholders. Bennet “would like NTIA to work closely with Colorado communities to make sure this program is successful so that rural communities and schools get the broadband access they need and our tax dollars are used efficiently and appropriately,” a spokesman for the senator told us by email. The senator supports “the objective of creating a statewide education network to connect our schools and community institutions, while bringing open access middle mile broadband infrastructure,” he said. Bennet’s office has alerted the federal government to “concerns we've heard from local incumbent providers and communities,” said the spokesman. The spokesman said that for this upcoming meeting, Bennet’s office has “directly connected our Colorado telecom providers, school district officials, and community leaders from the Western Slope to the Eastern Plains with NTIA staff to discuss collaborative options within the grant guidelines to find [a] win-win solution.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged regulators to “take a very careful look” at SoftBank’s proposed purchase of Sprint Nextel, in a letter to FCC Acting Chairman Mignon Clyburn and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. “I am concerned that critical parts of Sprint’s future network may ... become dependent on unsecure Chinese equipment and vulnerable to interference,” said Schumer. SoftBank “is a Japanese company with alleged ties to China, the country that is currently the leading source of cyber breaches,” said the letter sent Friday. “SoftBank’s Japanese wireless network reportedly relies heavily on Chinese equipment manufacturers with ties to the Chinese government” and “SoftBank was apparently affiliated with a company that admitted to bribing Chinese officials in order to procure telecommunications contracts,” the letter said. SoftBank is negotiating with government agencies that are reviewing SoftBank’s $20.1 billion bid to buy 70 percent ownership of Sprint, said a Sprint SEC filing earlier this month (http://1.usa.gov/12qWkFv). SoftBank continues to work with the FCC, Department of Justice and the Treasury Department-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) to complete those agencies’ review of the deal, and believes it will be able to close the deal as expected on July 1, a SoftBank spokesman said Thursday (CD May 24 p14). Dish Network said its counterbid for control of Sprint will deliver “nearly all the key benefits” of SoftBank’s proposed bid, and exceeds SoftBank’s bid in some areas. Dish’s $25.5 billion bid itself is superior to SoftBank’s $20.1 billion because it offers Sprint shareholders more stock and cash, Dish said. A Dish-Sprint combination would also be better able to challenge AT&T and Verizon Wireless than SoftBank-Sprint because Dish brings 45 MHz of low- and mid-band spectrum to the deal, Dish said. It said SoftBank holds no U.S. spectrum licenses. Dish/Sprint would also be better for national security given SoftBank’s ties to Chinese companies like telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei, Dish said (http://bit.ly/ZhWOm1). Dish has repeatedly voiced concerns about the national security implications of SoftBank’s bid in recent days (CD May 21 p9). Dish’s news release Thursday came in response to SoftBank’s posting of a list of reasons its purchase of Sprint would bring “significant benefits” to the U.S. SoftBank said those reasons include the ability to “transform” the U.S. wireless market through more vibrant national wireless carrier competition (http://bit.ly/11fQtlc).
The Wisconsin State Telecom Association lashed out against the University of Wisconsin for awarding a network infrastructure and services contract to WiscNet (CD May 24 p18), a cooperative provider that has caused some controversy in the state. “Through an arrogant, deliberate, and blatant effort to ignore state statutes the UW has yet again demonstrated that they believe they are above the law and not accountable to either lawmakers or the taxpayers of Wisconsin,” said Executive Director Bill Esbeck in a statement (http://bit.ly/16eAJrN). “Given the UW’s pattern of activity described as incompetence and deception, this latest effort to circumvent state statutes really shouldn’t come as a surprise.” The association described itself as “shocked and appalled” at Thursday’s news. It questioned the timing of the request for proposals and the university system’s broader actions. In response, a university spokesman directed us to a fact sheet on the RFP, announcing WiscNet’s acquisition of the contract last week. “WiscNet was selected through this competitive process to provide the network infrastructure and advanced networks services needed to support instruction of the 181,000 students and more than $1 billion in annual research activities at UW campuses statewide,” the university sheet said. “The procurement process, conducted in accordance with state rules, came in response to state legislative concerns about the relationship between the UW System and WiscNet, and how the system obtains advanced network services.” The university outlined several changes between WiscNet and itself, such as the UW system resigning from the WiscNet board, no longer serving as WiscNet’s fiscal agent and a move to separate university employees from WiscNet employees more clearly. “As part of that planned [network] transition, most UW-Madison employees currently supporting WiscNet operations will be hired by WiscNet or reassigned at UW-Madison no later than July 1,” the university added. It defended the RFP as “an open, rigorous and competitive procurement process.”
An emergency alert system expert told us she’s “delighted” a GAO report on EAS weaknesses (CD May 24 p6) “recognized the disconnect between the federal managers of the alerting system and the state and local message originators” that are its primary users. “The major problems occur at the state and local levels,” except for the 2011 first-of-its-kind nationwide test of EAS, said President Suzanne Goucher of the Maine Association of Broadcasters. “Some encouragement and guidance from the federal side would go a long way toward addressing issues of reluctance to use the system, uncertainty about how to use it properly, and lack of knowledge about how to craft an effective warning message.” FCC “guidance” via an NPRM on how states and municipalities can update their EAS plans “would be appreciated,” said Goucher.
Both bodies of the Oklahoma Legislature have now passed a bill that would adjust how the state approaches the position of chief information officer and technology more broadly. Oklahoma House Bill 2062, introduced in February, proposes many adjustments to the state code relating to government purchasing procedures as well as the information services division of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, consolidating duties and arguing for more efficiency. The bill included language on establishing a statewide assistance telework program. Legislators sent the bill to Gov. Mary Fallin (R) on Thursday.
Comments are due to the FCC July 23, replies Aug. 22, on whether multichannel video programming distributors’ linear video via consumer devices needs to carry video descriptions of emergency on-screen crawls, the agency said in a notice in Friday’s Federal Register. “We also seek comment on whether, under this approach, an MVPD should be required to ensure that any application or plug-in that it provides to the consumer to access this programming is capable of making the emergency information audible on a secondary audio stream.” Types of devices mentioned in the NPRM approved by commissioners last month (CD April 10 p6) include tablets, laptops, PCs and smartphones, the new notice said (http://1.usa.gov/10tf2MA). Comments are due in docket 12-107. Related rules for MVPDs and TV stations to make such emergency crawls accessible to those with vision impairments take effect June 24, except for what needs Office of Management and Budget approval, another commission notice said in the Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/11fAqE1).
Pandora Chief Financial Officer Michael Herring left the door open to a subscription fee hike, on the company’s fiscal Q1 2014 earnings call after regular U.S. markets closed Thursday. Pandora’s conversions from free listeners to paid subscribers was higher than expected after it instituted a listening cap on mobile devices in March, but the company has said in the past that it generates more revenue from the ad-supported part of the business than from its $36 yearly subscription fee (CD May 16 p19). Herring said Pandora has had the same pricing since it launched, while competing services “tend to raise prices over time.” While “that’s not been Pandora’s route to market to date,” he said, the company has “ever-rising costs” and the possibility of a fee increase is something “we look at very closely.” A subscription increase “is definitely on the table,” he said. The listening limit worked as planned, said CEO Joseph Kennedy. Pandora had an uptick in total active listeners and a drop in the number of hours streamed, which enabled the company to manage content acquisition costs with “minimal impact on listenership or revenue growth,” Kennedy said. Pandora added 700,000 subscribers in Q1, more than it added all together in fiscal 2013, Kennedy said. Of Pandora’s more than 2.5 million subscribers, nearly half have been generated on mobile devices, Kennedy said. Monetizing the business from mobile users continues to be a “core focus,” and Kennedy said mobile revenue from ads and subscriptions doubled versus the year-ago quarter. Pandora holds the top listening spot in most local radio markets and its share of total U.S. radio listening in April was 7.33 percent, he said. Kennedy cited a recent report from research firm BIA/Kelsey that predicted a sevenfold jump in mobile local media ad revenue, from $1.2 billion last year to $9.1 billion by 2017. Pandora has beefed up its ad sales staff in 28 of the top 40 local markets “to further capture our share of the relevant advertising budgets,” he said. Of its 248 sales reps, 72 are covering local markets, he said. On the Internet of Things, which Kennedy called the “the next huge wave driving technology innovation and consumer adoption,” Pandora stands to gain through connecting people to music, he said. Efforts such as its recent launch of the Pandora Premieres station, which plays new music up to a week before its official release date, and integration with Facebook -- where users can share the music they're listening to -- are examples of moves in that direction, he said. Q1 revenue at Pandora was $125 million, up 55 percent from the year-ago quarter, and mobile revenue nearly doubled to $83.9 million, the company said. Ad revenue reached $105 million, up 49 percent, and subscription and other revenue doubled to $20.4 million, it said. Pandora reported 4.18 billion total listener hours, a 35 percent bump.