p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: SecThe National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative said it still has objections on the part of its members to a waiver sought by PTC-220 so it can implement positive train control (CD April 25 p 11). The NRTC’s reply comments were posted by the FCC Thursday. “NRTC does not dispute the public interest benefits of PTC or that the 220-222 MHz band is well-suited for PTC,” the filing said (http://bit.ly/ZwEOnk). “NRTC also recognizes the crucial role PTC plays in improving the safety and reliability of rail operations and has supported efforts to develop the band for PTC. As described in its Comments, however, NRTC’s concern is to ensure that non-PTC-220 licensees in the 220-222 MHz band are not unfairly disadvantaged by relief granted to a single licensee, PTC-220, through the waiver process. PTC-220’s waiver would undermine the fundamental purpose of the 220-222 MHz band plan.”
Google has received “more governmental removal requests than ever before,” the company said when announcing its most recent Transparency Report (http://bit.ly/11HiGDV). In the second half of last year, Google “received 2,285 government requests to remove 24,179 pieces of content -- an increase from the 1,811 requests to remove 18,070 pieces of content that we received during the first half of 2012,” Legal Director Susan Infantino wrote. Infantino said more countries requested the takedown of political content. “In this particular time period, we received court orders in several countries to remove blog posts criticizing government officials or their associates,” she wrote.
The FTC updated its online guidance on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rule, it said Thursday, amid industry calls for a delayed implementation of the new rule. The updated FAQs “provides guidance from the FTC staff that supplements the rule and other COPPA-related material previously published by the FTC,” the release said (http://1.usa.gov/ZLbw2K). Stu Ingis, privacy counsel to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, told us the updated guidance does not decrease the need to delay implementation of the new rule. “While we appreciate that the FTC has issued these to help clarify the rule, the rule requires significant changes in technical operation given the much broader scope of information covered. It takes time and product cycles to implement such changes,” he said. The FTC should delay implementation by six months “given the complexities” of the rule, he said.
EchoStar seeks modification of some of its transmit/receive earth station licenses to add QuetzSat-1 at 77 degrees west as a point of communication. EchoStar and Dish Network also are seeking modification of some of their blanket earth station licenses to add QuetzSat-1, which is licensed to Mexico, they said in separate applications to the FCC International Bureau. Dish Mexico plans to shift transmissions to the satellite, which has been receiving programming from EchoStar satellites at 77 degrees west (CD May 8 p9).
T-Mobile must clarify its advertising about its no-contract plan as part of a court order, effective nationwide, said Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson. The court order was filed in Seattle’s King County Superior Court. “My office identified that T-Mobile was failing to disclose a critical component of their new plan to consumers, and we acted quickly to stop this practice and protect consumers across the country from harm,” he said in a statement Thursday (http://1.usa.gov/14eDGXX). T-Mobile disputed the characterization: “While we believe our advertising was truthful and appropriate, we voluntarily agreed to this arrangement with the Washington AG in this spirit,” it said in a statement. The telco said its “goal is to increase transparency with our customers, unleashing them from restrictive long-term service contracts -- this kind of simple, straightforward approach is core to the new company we are building.” T-Mobile customers may face heavy penalties for trying to cancel plans before the two years in ways not “adequately” disclosed, said Ferguson’s office. It called this a “balloon payment,” sometimes higher than other carriers’ termination fees and charging customers the full phone price if they leave T-Mobile before 24 months. T-Mobile “cooperated,” Ferguson said, saying the telco signed an assurance of discontinuance that it wouldn’t misrepresent consumers’ obligations and that it would better disclose the contract termination payments it demands. “All consumers who purchased T-Mobile service and equipment between March 26 and April 25, 2013, can obtain a full refund for their telephone equipment and cancel their service plans without being required to pay the remaining balance owed on their devices -- as long as the customer cancels his or her service per the terms of the agreement, including returning the equipment to T-Mobile,” according to Ferguson’s office. T-Mobile must reach out to customers to inform them of this opportunity, the attorney general added. The telco also paid the Washington State attorney general’s fees of $26,046.40 as part of the assurance agreement filed Thursday.
The FCC International Bureau dismissed an application from a Turkish broadcaster for a new transmit-only temporary-fixed earth station license to operate in the 14.0-14.5 GHz frequency band. The application of news outlet Ihlas Haber Ajansi (IHA) is “unacceptable for filing,” the bureau said in an order. The value it lists of its equivalent isotropically radiated power density per carrier is inconsistent with the calculation of the value based on information provided by the applicant in other items of Form 312, Schedule B, it said. The applicant also indicated it proposes to provide both mobile satellite services and fixed satellite service, the bureau said: The applicant “should have only checked the response, ‘a. fixed satellite.'"
This week, despite a telco’s objections, the Provo City Municipal Council unanimously approved 7-0 three resolutions allowing Google Fiber to buy the Utah city’s fiber and roll out its gigabit network later this year. The vote grants Google a nonexclusive franchise with the city. “The one constrictor we ran into was bandwidth,” Google Fiber Director of Community Affairs Matt Dunne told the council of the tech company’s entry into the fiber business. “Folks at Google felt we had a way to make a difference.” Mayor John Curtis described before the council the city’s struggles with its municipal network (CD April 22 p4). The city will have to invest several hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of the deal, with money going toward locating exactly where the fiber is, maintaining the fiber and potentially paying for an insurance policy on the sale if deemed necessary, the mayor said. Those costs could run up to roughly $1.7 million, although Curtis specified that $722,000, the amount required for maintaining the fiber for the next decade, is already set aside in the city’s telecom funds. “Not all the competitors are necessarily excited” about the prospect of Google, said Brian Jones, an attorney for the council. CenturyLink objected Monday and asked for a delay of 30 days before any votes. The telco sent the city a letter this week expressing these concerns as well as asking for a disclosure of certain agreement documents, requesting a delay of the vote and criticizing the way the agreement was reached. The city staff is working on the documents request and will turn over many documents, he said. The city has posted various agreement documents online (http://bit.ly/10D8tgh). Jones disputed CenturyLink’s delay request, citing the uncertainty associated with it and the ongoing costs the government incurs by operating the network: “Delaying the vote doesn’t accomplish anything.” Jones said he thinks CenturyLink was given a chance to be involved. “Like others, we are hopeful that Provo consumers will benefit from Google’s fiber entry experiment into this market,” a CenturyLink spokesman said by email. “However, ultimately, those customers will see even greater benefit if all providers of communications services in this market, including Google, are subject to the same rules and regulations for purchasing, upgrading and operating a broadband network. Without regulatory parity, consumers who demand a real choice of providers will not see the true benefits of competition. We believe this represents the best outcome for long term competition, economic development, job creation and long term investment in Utah.”
Broadband Internet is performing well, according to Akamai’s latest state of the Internet report, Broadband for America said Thursday (http://bit.ly/ZnFnib). “The American model of massive, private-industry funded investment in broadband Internet is working effectively,” it said in a release. The group highlighted data in the report (http://bit.ly/naUf) that showed a 28 percent increase in average broadband speeds and that said the U.S. advanced from ninth- to eighth-fastest broadband worldwide.
Twenty-nine percent of all subscribers that were enrolled in the Lifeline program in June 2012 have been de-enrolled from the program, the FCC Wireline Bureau reported in a public notice Thursday (http://bit.ly/17ZQNvA). That’s the result of all the Form 555s that were filed with the Universal Service Administrative Co. at the end of April, the bureau said. The form is part of a new recertification requirement the commission implemented to “ensure that only eligible subscribers remain in the program,” it said. The recertification requirement is expected to save $400 million in 2013, the bureau said. House lawmakers met Thursday to discuss waste and abuse in the Lifeline program (see related story).
"Winds Of Consolidation Keep Blowing” on TV-station owners, was the headline of a Credit Suisse report to investors on Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting buying 19 of them for $270 million (CD April 25 p15). There may be more mergers and acquisitions, Credit Suisse analysts including Michael Senno wrote Thursday, a day after the deal was disclosed. “Geography and duopolies are MOST important here,” wrote Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvicker of the potential for cost savings. Nexstar’s hubs are “very close” to the stations it’s buying, she wrote.