Universal support for telecom around the world needs to be reviewed and cut down, said the mobile operators of the GSM Association Wednesday (http://bit.ly/ZhtgiK). It released a new report (http://bit.ly/10SIKvk) concluding “most funds are not succeeding in delivering their stated goal of widening access to telecommunication services and that alternative market-based solutions are more effective,” noting the amounts of unused funds in these USFs. There’s $11 billion “languishing” in these various funds unused, with India having a particularly high amount, it said. The report surveyed 64 funds, with over a third estimated to not yet give out contributions in any effective way. GSMA Chief Regulatory and Government Affairs Officer Tom Phillips called the USFs “a convenient form of taxation on the telecommunications industry,” which often “should be closed down and the balance of monies held used to extend access to mobile services to those unable to afford them, or those groups that live in particularly remote areas,” according to an association statement. The report discusses the November 2011 reform of the U.S. USF, particularly emphasizing the change to the FCC’s high-cost support and Lifeline program. It called the U.S telecommunications market “highly competitive.” Nearly half of the surveyed USFs were shown to be of limited activity or inactive, but the U.S. USF was judged active.
The FCC Wireline Bureau is seeking comment on a plan to revise the E-rate program, it said in a public notice Tuesday (http://bit.ly/10La2VJ). The new E-rate proposal considers “additional clarifications to remove any potential uncertainty regarding the Commission’s requirement for applicants to cost allocate ineligible components when those ineligible components are bundled with eligible services,” according to the notice. There’s confusion about cost allocation of bundled ineligible components, the bureau said, explaining its reasoning for changes. Under these changes, “beginning in funding year 2014, service providers may no longer offer bundled ineligible components as E-rate eligible even if they determine the bundled offering falls within the scope of the Gift Rule Clarification Order,” it said. The bureau also invites comments on any alternatives to the proposal. Comments are due 30 days after the notice’s Federal Register posting.
Companies like Netflix, Hulu, Apple and Amazon helped drive the over-the-top video market past $8 billion in revenue last year, ABI Research said in a report. North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific were 2012’s three largest global markets for OTT, and they each recorded growth of 50 percent or more from 2011, it said. ABI Research sees the continued spread of connected CE products, tablets and smartphones pushing the OTT market past $20 billion in revenue by 2015, it said. “The shift to digital and OTT distribution is accelerating, particularly as content providers increasingly warm up to these channels,” ABI said. “While Pay-TV services are still afforded many advantages, we are approaching the proverbial fork in the road when content owners will decide if they continue down the same path or forge ahead, shaking up the primary means of media distribution as we've known it.” Broadcast equipment supplier Thomson Video has predicted that the new High Efficiency Video Coding standard will find its first commercial home in OTT (CD April 10 p17).
Missourians will now pay a lower monthly surcharge for the state’s Relay Missouri fund, which helps serve those residents who have disabilities of hearing and speech. The Missouri Public Service Commission has dropped the charge from $0.11 per line to $0.08 per line, effective July 1, the commission said Tuesday (http://on.mo.gov/YksrKu). PSC staff had reviewed the fund and judged the lower surcharge sensible. The relay fund will remain solvent, the PSC added.
DAB digital radio system patents are now expiring in Europe, leaving CE manufacturers free to offer receivers with the more advanced “DAB+” system at no extra cost. The basic DAB system uses MPEG Audio Layer II, known as MP2, which was spun off from work done by European electronics companies for the European Eureka-147 project between 1987 and 1994. Philips has been managing the DAB patent pool, which charged receiver makers a license entry fee of 25,000 euros, plus a running royalty of 2.50 euros for each receiver sold. The per-unit royalty jumped to 2.75 euros for receivers containing optional Transmitter Identification Information (TII) detectors. TII detectors promote receiver robustness by distinguishing between individual transmitters in a network of transmitters all using the same frequency. When a company’s cumulative DAB sales exceeded 300,000 units, its royalty fell to 2 euros per receiver, or 2.25 for receivers with TII detectors. The per-unit rate fell further to 1.50 euros (1.75 for TII receivers) when cumulative sales exceeded 700,000. Although Philips made no proactive announcement, it has now confirmed that the main DAB patents in Europe expired in January, with patents covering the TII technology due to expire next month. “The licensed patent rights have a longer lifetime in some other countries, specifically Korea, where they cover the very successful DMB system and extension to DAB,” a Philips spokesman said. The patents in Korea expire in December, the spokesman said. Where DAB patents have any bearing on digital radio products sold exclusively in the U.S., those patents don’t expire until January 2015, the spokesman said. The newer DAB+ system uses the more recent and more efficient MPEG-4 HE-AAC v2 coding, known as MP4 or AAC+. The patents are administered by Via Licensing, which is owned by Dolby Labs. For DAB+, there’s an initial entry fee of $15,000. Per-unit royalties are charged on a sliding volume scale, from 98 cents a receiver for fewer than 500,000 units sold, down to 15 cents a unit for 50 million or more sold. Some higher-priced new DAB receivers come with DAB+ out of the box, while others come with the option to enable DAB+ on payment of a fee. Still others have no DAB+ option at all. “What we gain from the end of paying DAB royalties pretty much equals the extra we need to pay for DAB+,” one U.K. supplier executive told us. “This means we can now start offering DAB+ on all receivers, without any additional cost.” -- BF
The FCC claimed The Supply Room operated multiple cellular cell signal jammers in Oxford, Ala., for more than two years in violation of commission rules, and assessed the company a proposed fine of $144,000. The FCC also accused the company of illegally importing five cell jammers. “On April 6, 2012, the [Enforcement] Bureau received an anonymous complaint alleging that Supply Room was operating signal jammers to prevent its employees from using their cell phones,” according to a notice of apparent liability (http://bit.ly/ZmImmh). “An agent from the Enforcement Bureau’s Atlanta Field Office immediately investigated this matter. On April 10, 2012, the agent determined, using direction finding techniques, that strong wideband emissions in the cellular bands (824-924 MHz and 1880-1990 MHz) were emanating from Supply Room’s warehouse in Oxford, Alabama. The agent further determined that the source of these emissions was one or more signal jammers.” The general manager of the warehouse confirmed that the company had installed and used the jammers for more than two years to prevent employees from using their cellphones at work, the notice said. The FCC issued a second notice of apparent liability for $126,000 against Taylor Oilfield Manufacturing for illegally operating cell jammers in Broussard, La. Similar to the other case, a company official said Taylor installed the devices to prevent employees from using their cellphones while on the job, the commission said (http://bit.ly/14XeyEF). “The Commission has issued several enforcement advisories and consumer alerts emphasizing the importance of strict compliance in this area and encouraging public participation through the Commission’s jammer tip line,” the notice said. “We expect individuals and businesses, like Taylor Oilfield, to take immediate steps to ensure compliance and to avoid any recurrence of this type of misconduct, including ceasing operation of any signal jamming devices that may be in their possession, custody or control. We also strongly encourage all users of these devices to voluntarily relinquish them to Commission agents.” The orders were issued by the full commission, though Commissioner Robert McDowell, who is leaving, did not participate.
SES launched an initiative aimed at development of the Ultra HD value chain. SES asked content providers and broadcasters to help in the effort, it said in a press release (http://bit.ly/17qMxFh). SES announced its plans at the MIPTV conference in Cannes, France, as expected (CD March 20 p18). The challenge for broadcasters is to access content in Ultra HD, it said. Satellite is “the most suitable infrastructure to deliver high resolution pictures to large audiences,” it said. SES said it’s well-positioned to support content providers and broadcasters in testing Ultra HD footage “and distributing their content before Ultra HD becomes a commercial reality in the next few years."
The lawsuit over the FCC’s open Internet order is about more than the issue of net neutrality, industry experts said Tuesday at a joint event by pro-free market policy group American Commitment, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Less Government, New America Foundation and Public Knowledge. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is expected to hear the case later this year, though it remains unclear when oral arguments will be (CD March 26 p8). The case is ultimately about what authority the FCC has over the Internet, said Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn. While the order has remained controversial, it hasn’t harmed the Internet over the last 18 months, she said. The order may actually have been too weak, Sohn said, saying the FCC should have classified broadband as a telecom service. The FCC’s order is ultimately part of a plan to eliminate the private Internet, said American Commitment President Phil Kerpen. Federally-owned infrastructure like roads and bridges is crumbling, but broadband has remained strong due to private investment and control, he said. The case will test the limits of the FCC’s regulatory authority, said Ryan Radia, CEI associate director-technology studies. While the FCC should play a role in regulating the Internet in terms of consumer protection, its net neutrality order exceeded that limit, he said.
Wisconsin’s economy requires more robust broadband access in the rural parts of the state, Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still wrote in a Tuesday La Crosse Tribune op-ed (http://bit.ly/ZfJwB1). He praised the discussion at a recent Wisconsin Public Service Commission broadband symposium. “Some next steps may be included in Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget bill, which will help remove some regulatory speed bumps and provide some money for public-private partnerships,” he wrote of the state’s Republican governor. “Ultimately, of course, better broadband service will be driven by market forces,” Still said. “Will enough people pay for the service? In the meantime, however, public-private partnerships will help ensure that rural Wisconsin isn’t left behind.”
Employees of technology companies should voice their support for reforming the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and encourage their companies to do the same, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said in a blog post Tuesday (http://bit.ly/10QJa6A). The CFAA “directly affects the programming community” and should be amended to include proportional penalties, encourage innovation and decriminalize terms-of-service violations, EFF wrote. “Unfortunately, many lawyers and policy staffers at tech companies support the currently overbroad CFAA, or see fixing it as unimportant,” the post said. EFF encouraged technologists to “urge your company to support CFAA reform that helps, not hurts, technologists, developers, researchers and consumers."