The Department of Homeland Security warned that 911 call centers in the U.S. have been the targets of denial of service attacks as part of an apparent extortion theme. The attacks have resulted in enough calls over several hours that some public safety answering points have had to switch over to an alternate facility, DHS said (http://bit.ly/147gbzl). In some cases, the attacks stop and then resume. The attacks often follow calls from someone “with a heavy accent” demanding payment of $5,000 “because of default by an employee who either no longer works at the PSAP or never did,” DHS said. PSAPs should report all attacks to the FBI, the department said. DHS also asked for information from victims. “Additional insight into the scope and impact of the event -- specifically how many communications centers have been attacked -- is critical to identifying the true scope of this occurrence,” the notice said. “To ensure situational awareness ... it is critical that this information be disseminated to emergency communications centers, PSAP’s, government IT departments, and any related government agency with a vested interest in emergency communications continuity of operations."
Francois Rancy, the director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau, is recovering from scheduled medical treatment and is expected back in the next couple of weeks, an ITU spokesman told us. Other officials we spoke with weren’t aware of his absence or medical condition. The spokesman said Rancy was sending emails and could be back to work quite soon. Rancy, during an interview last year, was in visible discomfort following oral surgery. Countries will elect five of ITU’s top leadership officials in 2014. Rancy, in very early corridor talk on the elections, has been expected to be re-nominated, and run unopposed, for the director’s slot.
The CEA and Charter’s war of words over Charter’s requested CableCARD waiver continued last week. In a letter to the FCC Friday, CEA Regulatory Affairs Vice President Julie Kearney attacked arguments in Charter’s most recent letter supporting its waiver request that cited a waiver Cablevision got in 2007 and an extension it got in 2009. “Six years after the 2007 waiver and four years after the 2009 extension, no retail product has emerged that can rely on Cablevision’s or any other operator’s version of ‘downloadable’ security,” Kearney wrote (http://bit.ly/16F43VO). “Charter’s filings offer no hope that any retail product can be based on the system for which Charter now seeks a waiver,” the letter said.
While PCs are still the most prevalent connected device in U.S. Internet households at 93 percent penetration, the combined number of tablets and smartphones that consumers own has for the first time exceeded the installed base of PCs, according to a report from NPD. Smartphone penetration in Q1 2013 grew from 52 to 57 percent, and tablet penetration jumped from 35 to 53 percent of Internet households, NPD said. More than half a billion devices in U.S. homes are now connected to the Internet and deliver apps, according to the report, including some 26 million smartphones and tablets, NPD said. The installed base of tablets in the period jumped by 18 million, trailing the number of smartphone users by nine million, according to NPD. Overall, the number of connected devices per U.S. Internet household has grown to 5.7, up from 5.3 devices three months ago, it said. The report was based on a survey of more than 4,000 U.S. consumers, age 18 and older, who were surveyed in Q1 2013. The number of installed and Internet connected devices includes those that deliver broadband applications such as computers, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, Blu-ray Disc Players, video game consoles, and streaming media set top boxes, NPD said.
Complying with a federal appeals court decision, the FCC approved the reallocation of two western TV stations to communities in New Jersey and Delaware. The FCC’s Media Bureau on Monday approved the reallocation of PMCM TV’s KVNV Ely, Nevada, to Middletown Township, N.J. (http://bit.ly/143Pvzc), and its KJWY Jackson, Wyo., to Wilmington, Del. (http://bit.ly/YN0RmJ). The stations requested the move after the 2009 DTV transition, citing a section of the Communications Act that allows VHF stations to volunteer to move to a state where no station is broadcasting on a VHF frequency. The FCC initially denied the requests but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit disagreed with the FCC’s reasoning and directed it to approve PMCM’s request (CD Dec 17 p4). The move will put the stations within the country’s first- and fourth-largest designated market areas.
Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank will become chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in July, she said in an email sent to Commerce Department employees on Monday. Blank said she “is not going anywhere in the near future” and said in her email she looks forward to advancing the department’s program and policy issues. Blank took over as acting secretary after John Bryson took a medical leave of absence last June following reports that he suffered a seizure related to three car accidents. President Barack Obama thanked Blank for her service in a statement Monday. Obama did not say who he would nominate as her replacement.
House Republicans on the Communications Subcommittee said they're wary that the Food and Drug Administration’s proposal to regulate mobile health applications and devices that use them could slow innovation in the health IT space, according to a majority memo recently posted to the subcommittee’s website. FDA classification of cellphones with health applications as medical devices could subject entrepreneurs to lengthy clearance or approval requirements, the memo said. If the agency considers cellphones with health applications to be medical devices it could have the negative result of stalling innovation, investment and job creation and “ultimately impact the larger wireless ecosystem,” according to the memo. The comments came ahead of Tuesday’s 10 a.m. Communications Subcommittee hearing in 2123 Rayburn. Robert Jarrin, Qualcomm senior director-government affairs, plans to say he’s particularly concerned that the FDA’s failure to release its final guidance on mobile medical applications “has created uncertainty among countless budding entrepreneurs and large corporations that fear the prospect of facing FDA regulation,” according to his advance testimony. Jarrin will tell lawmakers that the guidance should be promptly finalized, include specific examples of mobile devices that would not be subject to regulation, provide more clarity on mobile health terms, and coordinate its efforts through a dedicated FDA mobile health office, among other suggestions. George Ford, chief economist at the Phoenix Center, is also set to tell lawmakers that FDA regulation of mobile health applications could slow the rate of innovation and growth of the wireless industry, according to his written testimony. Jonathan Spalter, chairman of Mobile Future, expects to tell lawmakers there’s a “clear cut need for some degree of oversight over clinical treatment,” but mobile health innovators need better guidance on which agencies from which they must receive federal approval, according to his written testimony. Spalter plans to point to the confusion, duplication and jurisdictional overlap of medical device regulation from the FDA, the FCC, the FTC, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Controller. There must be a clear definition of when mobile health devices and applications are subject to federal regulation, said Spalter’s testimony. And the government should ensure a speedy approval process for those devices and applications that are subject to regulation so to “keep pace with emerging technology and meet consumer demand,” according to his testimony. Benjamin Chodor, CEO of Happtique, a provider of mobile health services, plans to tell lawmakers that medical device excise taxes should not apply to cellphones, tablets or mobile health apps, according to his written testimony. Such taxes would slow innovation by placing “burdensome costs on app developers in a new and growing market,” he expects to say.
The FCC Media Bureau urged Auction 83 FM translator applicants to file a required “preclusion showing” so their applications may proceed. The bureau identified a number of applications and amendments which were filed without a required preclusion showing or filed with defective preclusion showings, it said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/Xlc0Zt). The notice provides guidance for applicants vying for low-power FM stations as part of the Local Community Radio Act. In every instance, an applicant must file a preclusion showing “when its proposal could potentially preclude any protected LPFM channel/point combinations,” it said.
The U.K. Office of Communications wants input on future spectrum requirements for mobile broadband and potential frequency ranges that could be considered for new mobile allocations at World Radiocommunications Conference 2015, it said Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bopfzv). Ofcom will use the results of the consultation to develop U.K. positions and negotiating lines for two ITU-R meetings in July that will prioritize frequency ranges for study and reach initial conclusions on spectrum needs for mobile broadband, it said. Related work is taking place in the EU, where the Radio Spectrum Policy Group is analyzing bands between 400 MHz and 6 GHz which could become available for wireless broadband, it said. Ofcom said it will provide more opportunities for comment on all the issues to be addressed at WRC-15. Comments are due April 29.
The Washington State Patrol asked the FCC for a waiver of its rules so it can buy equipment capable of operating in both a 12.5 kHz and 25 kHz mode after the commission’s Jan. 1 narrowbanding deadline for private land mobile radio licensees in the 150-174 and 450-512 MHz bands. The patrol received an FCC waiver to continue to operate a wideband system until Aug. 1, but rules ban manufacture and import of wideband-capable equipment, even if it’s also suitable for narrowband operations, WSP said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/ZVdxHc). “WSP seeks this manufacturing waiver to ensure a safe and orderly transition to a new multi-band network, which includes a new 12.5 kHz narrowband VHF system and access to the federal 800 MHz Integrated Wireless Network in the State of Washington,” the patrol said.