The Enterprise Wireless Alliance protested recent FCC decisions that Part 90 licensees providing private mobile service (PMS) are subject to treatment as common carriers under the Communications Act. “Several recent statutory and regulatory actions impose obligations on ’telecommunications service providers,’ and have caused confusion in the PMS community,” EWA said in a letter to the commission (http://bit.ly/YM4pFH). “These obligations include certification of compliance with Customer Proprietary Network Information requirements and, more recently, with the FCC’s Accessibility Recordkeeping Compliance requirements.” But because the regulatory treatment of these mobile systems falls under Section 332(c) of the Communications Act and because these systems are not tied into the public switched network, “it is EWA’s opinion that they are not subject to the requirements described above or to any other obligation imposed on entities that provide ’telecommunications service,'” EWA said. The Communications Act “prohibits the FCC from regulating PMS as a common carrier offering,” EWA said. “Because the FCC has determined that the provision of telecommunications service constitutes common carriage, the Act exempts PMS providers, those providing non-interconnected, for-profit mobile service, from obligations associated with the provision of telecommunications service."
The European Commission is seeking a standardized way to measure the carbon footprint of the production, transport and sale of information and communication technology networks, goods and services, it said Monday. Measuring how much CO² is used will ultimately help reduce emissions, it said. Estimates show that every minute, 48 hours of new video content is uploaded to YouTube, 700,000 Facebook users share content and Google receives more than two million search queries, it said. Given that a single search query may produce anything from a few tenths of a gram to a few grams of CO² emissions depending on the kind of energy used to power the services, the emissions can be substantial, it said. Calculations of those emissions vary widely and are highly dependent on the different mechanisms used, but a study published Monday said 10 tools and standards pilot-tested by key tech companies and associations are comparable, it said. The next step is to get the ICT and relevant industries to put the methods into everyday use, something the EC will consult on in coming months. ICT products and services are now responsible for 8-10 percent of EU energy consumption and up to 4 percent of its carbon emissions, the EC said.
A “bunch of retailers” will start offering a disc-to-digital service for UltraViolet service, Lionsgate Entertainment Co-Chief Operating Officer Brian Goldsmith told us at the Piper Jaffray investor conference in New York. The disc-to-digital service is now available through Flixster, Hulu and Walmart. Goldsmith didn’t identify the additional retailers, but Lionsgate is “hopeful” UltraViolet becomes a standard format and is putting “marketing effort” behind it, Goldsmith said. Lionsgate makes the bulk of its content available for UltraViolet, he said. “In any event we think the opportunity in electronic sellthrough is just beginning,” Goldsmith said. Lionsgate’s Hunger Games was its first UltraViolet release and had more than 150,000 UltraViolet “redemptions” by last fall, company executives said on an earnings call. “Digital is changing the way we do business at such a rapid rate [that] if you are not adaptable, you miss opportunities,” said Goldsmith, also noting Lionsgate’s support for Coinstar’s Redbox. Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s Orange is the New Black will launch on Netflix in August with 13 episodes, apparently a delay from a planned spring introduction. Lionsgate is restructuring management of its TV Guide Network and filming four pilot shows that will air on the channel in the fall, said Goldsmith, declining to give details. Lionsgate is moving TV Guide Network, which it bought from Rovi in 2009, to a full-screen format as it drops the scrolling guide, Goldsmith said. TV Guide Network is in full screen in 83 percent of the 80 million households where it’s available versus 35 percent when Lionsgate bought it, Lionsgate officials have said. “We are starting re-branding and marketing the channel because it was hard to do that when half the screen was a scroll,” he said. TV Guide Network will undergo additional management changes and “shore up” its schedule “in the next few months,” Goldsmith said. It recently signed a new carriage agreement with CableOne. Lionsgate’s investment in Epix generates about $75 million annually in EBITDA and has reached 10 million viewers in the three years since its launch.
Spanish cable operator Ono’s number of TiVo-related subscribers surged to 100,000 in Q4 from 34,000 at mid-2012, helping it offset a downturn in TV services tied to the struggling Spanish economy, Ono said. Ono, which launched TiVo in Madrid and Barcelona in October 2011 and has since spread it across its network, has experienced “positive market acceptance” for the DVR service as “showcased by positive momentum in customer acquisition,” the cable operator said. The TiVo DVRs in Spain give customers access to 20 HD channels, 3D programming and broadband, Ono said. With the addition of a personalized search engine, TiVo will “help us increase the number of TV customers and revenues going forward,” Ono said, releasing earnings last week. Ono is among TiVo’s largest international customers that market its DVRs, trailing Virgin Media, which has 1.2 million subscribers to its TiVo-related service. The number of Ono subscribers with TV services declined 862,000 from 923,000 a year earlier. Ono’s telephone customer numbers dropped to 1.66 million from 1.7 million. The TV service was installed in 12.2 percent of the seven million homes where Ono is available, down from 13.1 percent a year earlier, and trailing Internet at 20.1 percent and phone at 23.5 percent, the company said. In addition to TiVo, Ono benefitted from growth in its mobile business where the number of customers grew to 417,000 from 192,000, the company said. Ono also had nearly 700,000 subscribers to its high-speed broadband services that delivered 30 Mbps and higher, the company said. Ono’s Q4 net profit improved to $18.2 million as revenue jumped 7.4 percent to $534 million despite gross margin slipping to 69.9 percent from 77.2 percent.
AT&T criticized CLECs that have billed the telco “substantial charges” for end-office switching services “that neither they nor their over-the-top VoIP partners provide, in clear violation of the Commission’s rules,” said an ex parte filing sent Thursday (http://bit.ly/YgDTlB). Level 3 and Bandwidth.com have argued that the FCC’s access charge rules let CLECs assess local-end office switching charges when they route VoIP calls to end-users. But “the limited functionality provided by the CLECs in the middle of those over-the-top VoIP calls more closely resembles tandem switching,” AT&T said. The company has been paying the CLECs for this traffic at the tandem switching rate, it said. The CLECs “deliver calls in an undifferentiated stream onto the public Internet,” which does not entitle a carrier to assess end-office switching charges, AT&T said, citing the commission’s 2011 YMax order. That order said that if exchanging packets over the Internet count as a “virtual loop,” then “so too is the entire public switched telephone network -- and the term ‘loop’ has lost all meaning.” It’s “unfair” for CLECs to charge for functions they don’t perform, AT&T said.
The American Legislative Exchange Council decided to post all its model legislation online, it said Friday (http://bit.ly/Zv3Dw3). The 40-year-old organization brings together members of industry and state legislators to develop its policy, and the model bills of ALEC have touched on state telecom issues such as limited state regulation of Internet Protocol-based services and restrictions on municipal telecom networks. Its member companies include some of the biggest telcos. The model bills, which historically have not been as readily available and have come under scrutiny for a lack of transparency, are listed in a searchable database (http://bit.ly/WlA1DE). ALEC made the decision “in order to promote a more educated discussion and open exchange of ideas across America,” it said.
In the next round of Connect America Fund Phase I funding, the FCC should adopt the proposal filed jointly by several ILECs that would expand eligibility criteria for funding, CenturyLink told Chairman Julius Genachowski and other commission officials Thursday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/YgD4ZW). “Putting this funding to work now would help the transition to CAF II by maintaining the momentum of broadband deployment in rural America.” The proposal by USTelecom, the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance and the ABC Coalition (http://xrl.us/bodeec) would let carriers build “second mile” fiber to neighborhoods to increase broadband speeds.
Representatives of wireless carriers and their trade associations met with FCC staff Thursday to discuss the wireless industry perspective on the potential expansion of the current Form 477 data collection to include deployment data by shape files in the formats provided in the NTIA Broadband Mapping Program. CTIA, the Competitive Carriers Association and the Rural Telecommunications Group were all at the meeting. “FCC Staff explained their desire to obtain shape file maps from providers, submitted by air interface technology, frequency band, and advertised speeds,” said an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/Wly4Hl). “FCC Staff also expressed their interest in obtaining more information regarding providers’ ability to report adoption information, including (1) prepaid and postpaid subscribers, (2) classification of device type (e.g., smartphone, tablet, etc.), (3) subscribers that bundle wireline and wireless services where providers offer both, and (4) machine-to-machine adoption data, including e-readers and other devices, in a revised Form 477.” The carriers offered insights on “challenges associated with these proposals, including whether providers have such information available,” the filing said.
The FCC provided guidance to commercial space launch applicants and to entities applying for licenses for small satellites. “Our measures to streamline processes and increase predictability will help boost U.S. leadership in the commercial space industry,” Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement (http://bit.ly/16xSwaK). For launch applicants obtaining experimental authorizations for communications used for launch activities and related cargo transport activities, they must provide information like an overview of the proposed launch or testing, a 24-hour contact for interference issues and “technical information including frequency, power, emission, latitude and longitude coordinates of the launch site or test operations,” the commission said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/ZNNcuH). An experimental authorization is required for a commercial space launch vehicle “that will use radio frequencies during a launch,” it said. A separate authorization is needed for radio frequency use by a satellite launched into space by the launch vehicle and another authorization is required “to operate a ground station that will communicate with the commercial space launch vehicle or spacecraft.” The guidance on small satellites focuses on such satellites in the amateur and research communities, the commission said in a separate public notice (http://bit.ly/WtiUys). For permitted amateur satellite operations, a licensed amateur operator must submit a pre-launch notification no later than 30 days after the date of launch vehicle determination, “but no later than 90 days before integration of the space station into the launch vehicle,” it said. Experimental licenses are granted for either two or five years and operation of an amateur radio service satellite “is authorized only so long as the operator’s amateur license remains current,” it added.
The IRS has yet to effectively implement parts of its information security program, leaving financial and taxpayer data “vulnerable to inappropriate use, modification, or disclosure, possibly without being detected,” said a GAO report (http://1.usa.gov/XOIYVA). It said that while the agency has developed the program’s framework and effectively implemented some of the program’s initiatives, “certain components of the program did not always function as intended.” While the IRS said it’s resolved 58 security recommendations made by the GAO, the report said 13 hadn’t been resolved. GAO said the IRS must take “additional steps to (1) more effectively implement its testing and monitoring capabilities, (2) ensure that policies and procedures are updated, and (3) address unresolved and newly identified control deficiencies” to better protect its data.