AT&T confirmed Thursday it began adding a 61-cent monthly administrative fee per line on contract wireless customers’ bills on May 1. The fee covers “certain expenses,” including cell site costs and interconnection, an AT&T spokesman said. The carrier also charges a regulatory cost recovery fee of 50 cents per line. Customers were given 30 days’ advance notice of the administrative fee, which is identified and summarized as a line item in every bill, the spokesman said. “We're very straightforward about this,” he said. Other major carriers also charge monthly administrative fees -- Verizon Wireless charges 90 cents per line in administrative fees and 16 cents per line for regulatory costs; Sprint Nextel charges $1.50 per line for administrative fees and 40 cents per line for regulatory costs; T-Mobile US charges $1.61 per line for regulatory fees, but does not charge an administrative fee.
The California Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to approve SoftBank’s plan to buy majority control of Sprint Nextel -- the last of the state regulatory agencies that needed to clear the transaction. SoftBank had filed with agencies in 23 states and Washington, D.C., SoftBank and Sprint said in a joint statement (http://bit.ly/16R7ef4). 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. SoftBank’s negotiations with the agencies include a plan to allow the U.S. government to have veto power over one of its appointees to Sprint Nextel’s board; that plan had already been publicly disclosed prior to a Wall Street Journal report, the SoftBank spokesman said. That appointee would serve as the “Security Director” in charge of ensuring implementation of the network security agreement SoftBank is negotiating with government agencies that are reviewing SoftBank’s $20.1 billion bid to buy 70 percent ownership of Sprint, according to a Sprint proxy filed with the SEC earlier this month (http://1.usa.gov/12qWkFv). The Wall Street Journal report also said CFIUS wants Sprint-controlled Clearwire to remove equipment manufactured by Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei from its network. SoftBank and Sprint have previously told House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., they would exclude Huawei’s equipment from the Sprint network and would work to replace Huawei equipment on Clearwire’s network (CD April 1 p5). “Those plans confirm the serious national security risks of SoftBank acquiring Sprint and its wireless and wireline assets of national strategic importance,” said Dish Network General Counsel Stanton Dodge in a statement Thursday. Dish remains “concerned, however, that these reported steps do not adequately protect our national security interests, especially with respect to Sprint’s critical fiber backbone network and Sprint’s extensive contracts to provide important telecommunications services for government, law enforcement and defense customers,” he said (http://bit.ly/1acFq1B). Dish has long opposed the deal, and has made a $25.5 billion counterbid for Sprint. Dish has recently ramped up its criticism of the SoftBank deal on national security grounds, launching a website Monday that outlined what Dish claims are problematic SoftBank ties to Huawei, UTStarcom and Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba (CD May 21 p9). SoftBank’s bid actually “enhances U.S. national security,” the SoftBank spokesman said. “Only SoftBank has committed to moving the existing equipment that the government has concerns about. Dish has not made any such commitments, so their arguments about national security are a little hypocritical.” Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member John McCain, R-Ariz., urged the FCC in a letter Thursday to consider the national and economic security implications of SoftBank’s bid. “Sprint holds strategic assets, such as its wireless spectrum and fiber network, and has extensive and ongoing relationships throughout the whole government,” the letter said. “With all other relevant facts and circumstances surrounding Softbank’s proposed acquisition of Sprint, I hope the Commission duly considers these facts when reviewing this matter.”
Twitter will allow companies to target ads on its social media platform to users who have seen national TV ad campaigns, it said Thursday (http://bit.ly/10PaFKO). The technology, made available through Twitter’s acquisition of Bluefin Labs, “enables marketers to engage directly with people on Twitter who have been exposed to their ads on TV,” it said, which will make brand messages “more engaging, interactive and measurable.” Video fingerprinting technology detects when and where a brand’s commercials are running on TV, after which Twitter can identify users “who tweeted about the program where the ad aired during that program.” It said “a user engaged enough with a TV show to tweet about it very likely saw the commercials as well.” The ad targeting is in beta in the U.S. only and only available for customers running U.S. national TV ad campaigns, Twitter said. Twitter also announced Thursday it will partner with 16 new channels to deliver what it calls dual-screen sponsorships (http://bit.ly/Z3uMIG). Earlier partnerships with ESPN and Ford Fusion allowed fans to see instant replays on Twitter during college football bowl games and the NCAA tournament and NBA finals. BBC America, Fox Fuse and The Weather Channel have similar partnerships, and now Bloomberg TV, Clear Channel, Conde Nast, MLB.com, Discovery, Vevo, Time and New York magazines, among others, will also share content using the dual-screen sponsorship.
Detroit has new wireless networks, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute said in a Thursday blog post. “Community members launched two new wireless networks at the end of April in Detroit neighborhoods, with a third one still in the works,” the post said (http://bit.ly/11fE46I). “Built on the Commotion mesh wireless platform, these networks function as local communications infrastructure: they act as an intranet for community interactions, and connect to the global Internet.” It described its Detroit Digital Stewards training program and its desire to share the tools for how to get communities involved in similar projects. The post also discussed and showed images of how project members set up the networks.
The FCC Wireline Bureau gave the Montana Public Service Commission permission to begin “mandatory thousands-block number pooling” in the 406 numbering plan area, as the state regulators had requested, it said in a Thursday order (http://bit.ly/11fzzsQ). The Montana PSC asked for the permission in November of 2011. “Demand for number resources has increased and the 406 area code numbering resources are dwindling,” the state regulators told the FCC, according to the order. The PSC also argued that Montana companies used the numbering resources inefficiently. It didn’t satisfy all the FCC’s tests for granting such requests but showed “special circumstances,” the order said.
Connected Nation has certified St. Clair County, Mich., as a “connected community,” the third in Michigan and sixth in the nation to receive the certification, the Michigan Public Service Commission said Thursday (http://1.usa.gov/Z3mlNI). “The result of their efforts is a concrete technology action plan that contains specific recommendations,” PSC Chairman John Quackenbush said in a statement. The county had developed a plan that focused on “identifying, mapping and validating broadband demand; performing a broadband build-out analysis in unserved areas; completing a vertical assets inventory; developing public-private partnerships to deploy broadband service; developing or identifying a broadband training and awareness program from small and medium business; and pursuing next generation 911 upgrades,” according to the PSC.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s suggestion that the commission auction off the H block along with other bands identified in the Spectrum Act deserves serious consideration, Dish Network said. Rosenworcel suggested auctioning 65 MHz of spectrum, including the H block, to help fund the nation’s first wireless public safety broadband network (CD May 23 p1). “Given the unresolved interference issues and the uncertainty due to the competing offers for Sprint, Dish believes there is merit to waiting for more certainty before auctioning the H block,” said Jeff Blum, Dish deputy general counsel, in a statement. The commission will likely increase participation and public safety funding by auctioning all the spectrum together, he said: “This will give potential bidders clarity and ample time to plan for their spectrum needs.”
The 600 MHz band plan endorsed by the NAB, AT&T and Verizon is the one most likely to reduce revenue to the U.S. Treasury, said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld, in an ex parte letter filed with the FCC Thursday (http://bit.ly/16VDKNL). According to the letter, in a meeting Tuesday with Wireless Bureau staff, Feld said there is no consensus in favor of the “down from 51” plan, contrary to a statement by Commissioner Ajit Pai (CD May 21 p4) and a blog post Wednesday from the NAB, AT&T and Verizon endorsing that plan (CD May 22 p4). “Pai ignored objections to the AT&T/VZ/NAB plan and support from consumer groups (including Public Knowledge), competitors such as Sprint, or tech companies such as Microsoft,” said Feld in a post from his own blog, which is also referenced in the ex parte (http://bit.ly/13Mx7pT). Feld commended the Wireless Bureau for issuing a rulemaking notice to explore the different band plans. “The Public Notice issued by the Bureau enhances transparency and facilitates a full exploration of all possible approaches and their respect tradeoffs, creating a richer and more robust record for any ultimate decision by the Commission,” said Feld. Feld also spoke with Wireless Bureau staff about market variability and TV white spaces. “The problem in rural areas is not a dearth of licensed spectrum, but economic circumstances that make licensed wireless unprofitable,” Feld said. “Reclaiming vast amounts of rural broadcast spectrum would starve TVWS [TV White Spaces] and thus worsen, rather than alleviate, the problem of rural wireless broadband.” Feld said confining rural broadband to spectrum that isn’t used in large markets would make it difficult for licensees to purchase equipment, and they “would therefore face the problem faced by rural 700 MHz A and B block licensees denied interoperability today.” However, Feld said market variability could also prevent broadcasters from holding out for higher spectrum prices in the most congested markets.
Transportation Secretary nominee Anthony Foxx will probably “ride the fast rail right into the secretaryship,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Wednesday at the adjournment of Foxx’s nomination hearing. Foxx said if nominated he will focus on safety, improving the efficiency and performance of the existing transportation system and making long-term investments and planning for infrastructure. He’s mayor of Charlotte, N.C., and was nominated last month by President Barack Obama (CD April 30 p14).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau is inviting comments on Central Maryland Radio Communications’ request for a waiver of the Dec. 31, 2016, 700 MHz narrowbanding deadline (http://bit.ly/12QdRtU). The waiver “would allow it to operate a regional interoperable communications system in the 700 MHz narrowband spectrum utilizing the current 12.5 kHz channel efficiency requirement until January 1, 2024,” the bureau said. Comments are due June 17.