China-based telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei won’t completely exit the U.S. market despite media reports that the company’s CEO said “it’s not worth it” to remain in the U.S. due to recent scrutiny from Congress, a Huawei spokesman told us. “We remain committed to our customers, employees, investments and operations and more than $1 billion in sales in the U.S., and we stand ready to deliver additional competition and innovative solutions as desired by customers and allowed by authorities.” Foreign Policy reported that Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei told reporters Nov. 25 that “we have decided to exit the U.S. market, and not stay in the middle” of U.S.-China relations. The House Intelligence Committee said after an investigation last year that the U.S. government and American companies shouldn’t do business with either Huawei or ZTE because of long-term security risks. The committee was not able to conclusively determine that either company was involved in any spying or cyberattacks and both companies denied they were engaged in any wrongdoing (CD Oct 10/12 p3). Those concerns later threatened Japanese telco SoftBank’s buy of 78 percent of Sprint and Sprint’s buyout of Clearwire, but the companies agreed to mitigate the use of Huawei equipment in their U.S. networks (CD April 1 p5).
The FirstNet board plans multiple meetings later this month in Denver, it said in a notice Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1eTdJiM). The first batch of meetings will be Dec. 16 and happen in order by committee -- first the governance and personnel committee, then the finance, audit and budget committee, the planning and technology committee and finally the outreach committee. The board also scheduled an open meeting Dec. 17. All meetings will be open to the public and will be webcast.
The World Trade Organization must resolve political differences “now or never” and agree to a deal on broad trade package, said WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo at the outset of the WTO ninth ministerial summit in Bali Tuesday. The summit lasts through Friday and comes after Azevêdo had conceded negotiations failed, saying the Bali summit is an infeasible environment to strike a package. “What’s at stake is the cause of multilateralism itself,” said Azevêdo, according to a WTO news release (http://bit.ly/IEAyve). “The multilateral trading system was never the only option for trade negotiations. It always co-existed with, and benefited from, other initiatives -- whether regional or bilateral,” he said, in reference to other trade pacts under negotiation globally. The U.S. is negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CD Dec 3 p12), a pact administration officials have aimed to seal this year, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The developing world would suffer the most from failure in Bali, said Azevêdo. U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke has said negotiations failed due to weak political will to reach a deal.
The text of Rural Spectrum Accessibility Act makes clear two senators’ goal to ensure rural and small carriers have access to spectrum. The subhead of the bill said this is “to expand wireless coverage.” Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, introduced S-1776 before Thanksgiving recess (CD Nov 25 p11) with Deb Fischer, R-Neb., as its one co-sponsor. Its text and title were posted online this week. The bill would amend Section 307 of the Communications Act of 1934. Within 90 days of the bill’s enactment, the FCC “shall establish a program under which a carrier that receives a license under this section may partition or disaggregate the license in order to make unused spectrum available to small carriers or carriers serving a rural area,” the bill proposed. “Any carrier that receives a license under this section and participates in the program … shall receive a 3-year extension of the license granted under this section.” Small carriers are ones with no more than 1,500 employees, according to S-1776. Both senators are members of the Commerce Committee, where the bill resides. The bill is substantially similar to S-3516, from former Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, that failed in the 112th Congress. Klobuchar was the Snowe bill’s one co-sponsor.
The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers began projects on three new standards and recommended practices to improve cable operators’ energy efficiency and “business continuity,” said SCTE in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1cSkLCy). “Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery for Network Operators” will study best preparation and response methods to “disasters that may result in widespread network outages,” said the standards group. “Recommended Practices for Carbon Data Collection and Management” will help cable operators measure carbon footprints to find ways to boost energy efficiency and cut costs, said SCTE. That work is being led by Adrian Shulock of Coppervale Enterprises, while the disaster project’s chairman is Joseph Viens of Time Warner Cable. Operators and makers of consumer electronics have in recent years stepped up work on saving electricity in CE devices and at cable systems’ headends and other backend equipment (CD July 24/12 p12).
Inmarsat plans a Sunday launch of the first satellite in its forthcoming Ka-band network. Inmarsat-5 F1 is to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard an International Launch Services Proton Breeze M rocket, Inmarsat said in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/IElVIz). The Ka-band network fleet, Global Xpress, is on schedule to achieve full global coverage by the end of 2014, it said. The Inmarsat-5 FI launch can be viewed at 7:12 a.m. EST at http://bit.ly/1bdQwGw.
Intelsat repointed a Ku-band beam on the Intelsat 8 satellite to provide capacity to the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan, it said. Intelsat is providing an uplink via the IntelsatOne terrestrial network from the Kumsan, South Korea, Teleport and a downlink in the Philippines, Intelsat said in a press release (http://bit.ly/18XE52j). It also donated C-band capacity on Intelsat 902 to provide Astrium satellite connectivity “for major global humanitarian agencies to conduct emergency rescue missions in the region affected by the typhoon,” Intelsat said.
Online digital video store M-Go is testing gift card sales through Kroger, Ralphs and Safeway’s Vons supermarket chains, while Hulu, flush with new financing, is expanding rapidly into original content, said representatives of M-Go and Hulu in interviews. Over-the-top providers are scrambling to establish position within the market amid reports that many them are seeking alliances with cable operators. M-Go’s owners include cable set-top supplier Technicolor, while Hulu, which has Fox, Disney and Comcast among investors, is pursuing deals with cable operators to offer Hulu as a means for watching current shows online, said industry officials. A Hulu spokeswoman declined to comment, but said it “would be nice” if a cable agreement were reached. Hulu’s discussions with cable operators follow the hiring of former News Corp. executive Mike Hopkins as CEO and the infusion of $750 million into the company by Comcast, Disney and Fox earlier this year. Hulu, with more than 4 million subscribers, is expected to increase revenue this year from the $695 million it posted in 2012, said the spokeswoman. Hulu also has started production in New York of the 10-episode original comedy series Deadbeat that will be released next fall, the spokeswoman said. Hulu also ordered a second season of Occupant Entertainment’s Behind the Mask documentary series that focuses on the world of high school, college and pro sports mascots and the people behind them, it has said. “A percentage of the money we received” from investors in July “is going to original content because we know that is among the things that people want,” the Hulu spokeswoman said. M-Go will have kiosks in 287 Kroger, Ralphs and Vons stores to display $14.95 gift cards redeemable for about a dozen movies with a goal of further expanding the strategy in 2014, said an M-Go spokeswoman. Among the studios providing titles are 21st Century Fox, DreamWorks Animation, Sony and Warner Brothers, she said. M-Go sought out “the biggest national retailers” to deploy the kiosks as a “proof of concept,” said the spokeswoman. The store locations were chosen within “high-performing home entertainment” markets so M-Go could test the “correlation between historical home entertainment performance and a digital offer,” she said. The kiosks are being installed near each store’s gift card section placing movie studio titles in a “high traffic store locations where consumers go on a weekly basis,” the M-Go spokeswoman said. “This offers the convenience and security of a gift card with the tangible gratification of DVD impulse” purchases, she said. M-Go has signed a distribution agreement for Disney titles, more than a dozen of which were available Tuesday. With Disney’s involvement, M-Go has expanded its library to 19,000 titles, from 14,000 in September, with a goal of reaching 24,000 by year-end, the spokeswoman said. M-Go also developed iPad and Android apps, both of which are expected to be available “very shortly,” she said. The iPad app will be for viewing and not for transactions, she said.
The Department of Homeland Security has made some improvements in its information security program, but still can’t follow all its self-imposed policies and procedures, said the department’s inspector general in a report released Monday. The report said DHS is operating some of its systems “without authority to operate.” DHS is also not creating plans of action and milestones for fixing all known information security weaknesses or mitigating those weaknesses “in a timely manner,” the report said. The report also said DHS isn’t implementing baseline security settings on all of its systems. The IG recommended DHS establish a process to ensure it’s using baseline security settings on all department computers and ensure all systems have updated authorizations to operate. The report also recommended DHS improve its action plan review process to ensure the department is creating all plans in a timely manner. The IG recommended DHS establish new security training requirements for all privileged users and strengthen oversight of its “Top Secret” systems by performing critical control reviews of selected systems (http://1.usa.gov/1k348Xh). Senate Homeland Security Committee ranking member Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said the report “shows major gaps in DHS’s own cybersecurity, including some of the most basic protections that would be obvious to any 13-year-old with a laptop.” President Barack Obama “has called on the private sector to improve its cybersecurity practices to ensure that our nation’s critical infrastructure is not vulnerable to an attack,” said Coburn in a written statement. “DHS and other agencies must be held to at least the same standard."
The Senate Commerce Committee scheduled an FCC spectrum auction oversight hearing for the afternoon of Dec. 10, a spokeswoman for Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., told us. She said it will be a full committee hearing overseen by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D. Witnesses have not been announced, she said, and no information is posted on the Senate Commerce website. Rockefeller’s and Thune’s offices declined to confirm or elaborate by our deadline.