Several members of the House are preparing to tell the FCC to integrate broadband more closely into the E-rate program. “The FCC should focus E-rate on broadband connectivity and infrastructure, create an upgrade fund to support rural areas, and increase transparency, accountability, and program efficiency so that we can deploy high-speed broadband to more schools and classrooms,” wrote Reps. Jared Polis, D-Colo.; Chris Gibson, R-N.Y.; Jared Huffman, D-Calif.; Don Young, R-Alaska; and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., in a letter to colleagues. They are trying to attract signatories for a letter they've drafted to all five FCC members. “We are proud to support the bipartisan recommendations to update E-rate and we call for those across the education, government, and business communities to recognize the opportunity we have to improve and modernize our schools,” the letter draft said. “We ask the Commission for swift action to bring high-speed broadband to our students on an expedited basis.” Schools should shoot for 100 Mbps now and 1 Gbps by 2017, it said. The letter recommended: “(1) Focus E-rate on broadband connectivity and infrastructure to ensure that we maximize the impact of the program on learning by limiting support for yesterday’s outdated dial-up era technologies; (2) Create an upgrade fund within the E-rate program to connect every school and library, particularly those in rural areas, to high-speed broadband; (3) Increase transparency and accountability for the program in order to reduce costs, research effective practices, and ensure that all students have access to the connectivity they need; and (4) Simplify and streamline onerous paperwork requirements to improve program efficiency.” The FCC this past year reviewed ways to change its E-rate fund as part of a proceeding devoted to what commissioners have called “E-rate 2.0.”
Verizon FiOS, Bright House Networks and Verizon DSL had slight increases in Netflix speeds in November, said the online video distributor’s monthly speed index (http://nflx.it/1fdy6Ya). The OVD said Google Fiber, Cablevision Optimum, Cox Communications, Suddenlink and Charter Communications remained at the top of the list, followed by Verizon FiOS at 2.2 Mbps. Time Warner Cable and Comcast had slight decreases at 2.07 Mbps and 1.82 Mbps respectively, it said. Bright House had an increases to 1.91 Mbps and Verizon DSL to 1.23 Mbps, said Netflix. AT&T DSL slipped to 1.2 Mbps, said the speed index. It’s based on data from more than 40 million Netflix subscribers who watch more than 1 billion hours of TV shows and movies streaming from the OVD each month.
The Inmarsat-5 satellite sent initial signals from orbit, Boeing said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1breLhh). “After reaching final orbit, it will complete several additional maneuvers and tests before officially beginning service for Inmarsat.” The Boeing-built satellite launched Sunday from Kazakhstan on an International Launch Services rocket, it said. The satellite is the first to launch for Inmarsat’s forthcoming Ka-band network (CD Dec 4 p16).
Global patent filings in 2012 increased at their highest rate in 18 years, said a World Intellectual Property Organization news release Monday (http://bit.ly/1krVXnn). Patent filings increased by 9.2 percent last year to 2.35 million, while those for trademarks rose 6 percent, a lower growth rate than in recent years. China’s State Intellectual Property Office was primarily responsible for the growth in patent filings, with that office’s filings up 24 percent in 2012, said WIPO. It said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had a 7.8 percent filing increase.
EU lawmakers and governments should make it easier for telecom companies to operate across borders, said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes Monday. She’s pushing for action on key proposals in the European Commission’s “connected continent” telecom overhaul package, one of which is the creation of a one-stop shop for authorizing e-communications services. The proposed regulation eases telecom service expansion in several ways, the EC said. It replaces 28 different registration requirements with one single point of authorization and notification in the EU, lowering entry barriers for new companies and costs for service provision. The rule also ensures that multi-territory telecom companies get more consistent treatment from regulators, and makes it easier for smaller players to cross borders by ensuring that operators below a certain size don’t have to pay regulatory administrative costs or pay into universal service funds, it said. The European Parliament is about to begin discussion on possible amendments to the draft package.
Smartphones, tablets and e-readers can now be switched on in “flight mode” throughout an entire airline journey without a risk to safety, said the European Commission Monday. Updated guidance from the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) allows, for the first time, the use of personal electronic devices in flight mode from gate to gate, the EC said. This is the first step toward safe expansion of the use of in-flight electronics during taxiing, take-off and landing, said Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas. The next step will be to look at how to connect to the network on-board, he said. He asked EASA to speed up its review of the safe use of transmitting devices on planes, with new guidance expected within the next year. It’s up to each airline to update its operating rules, the EC said. In the U.S., the FCC is to vote Thursday on an rulemaking that would allow airlines to authorize cellphones to be used during flights (CD Nov 22 p6).
Correction: The extra layer of copyright protection the World Intellectual Property Organization broadcast treaty will create is for content that already is protected where applicable, said Knowledge Ecology International Geneva Representative Thiru Balasubramaniam (CD Dec 9 p9).
The House Commerce Committee will mark up the FCC Process Reform Act starting Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in 2123 Rayburn, it said in a notice Friday. The committee scheduled a meeting for Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. to vote on the marked up measure. The committee already has debated the legislation earlier in the year. The bill would call on the agency to consider market forces before regulating, publish its decisions promptly, create “shot clocks” for resolving agency matters and allow more than two commissioners to discuss commission business without issuing an ex parte report, among other changes. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said in November he wanted to find bipartisan consensus on this bill soon.
Three members of Congress asked the FCC to “suspend and investigate” AT&T’s recent special access filing. “We are concerned about AT&T’s recent notice of its intention to eliminate service plans for terms longer than three years and the effect this action, if approved, would have on prices and competition in the marketplace,” said Friday’s letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler from House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “By eliminating these plans, AT&T is effectively increasing rates in some regions by as much as 24 percent -- which would result in increased costs to users by hundreds of millions of dollars.” Several CLECs also criticized the AT&T filing (CD Dec 4 p3). AT&T framed the move in a November blog post as part of the IP transition. “The tariff changes filed today will grandfather DS1 and DS3 term plans greater than 36 months, including ones that have term periods as long as seven years,” Senior Vice President Bob Quinn wrote of changes that could become effective Tuesday. “The first step of that plan is to align the commitments we make to our customers with the goal of transitioning to an all-IP network. That is why today we have taken a step to make sure that multi-year commitments we enter into today for aging TDM-based services reflect the on-going transition to IP and do not extend beyond the expected completion of our transition in 2020.” The members of Congress lamented the “broken special access market” and said they're “pleased” the FCC is collecting data on it. They wanted AT&T’s filing suspended to allow more data collection and not “short circuit” that process.
The FCC Wireline Bureau seeks comment on three Rural Health Care Program participants’ appeals of Universal Service Administrative Co. decisions denying funding. Illinois Rural HealthNet, Colorado Telehealth Network and Oregon Health Network argue their non-rural clinics should count as “eligible health care providers” and therefore be eligible for support, said a public notice Friday (http://bit.ly/1bNGKxC). Comments are due Dec. 20 in WC docket 02-60, replies Jan. 3.