Top NARUC officials met with FCC officials, including Chairman Julius Genachowski and commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, in Washington during their winter meeting at various times, according to a detailed ex parte filing Monday (http://xrl.us/boezqk). The state commissioners reiterated the significance of call completion problems and briefed the FCC officials on the association’s telecom task force on federalism and its goals. They noted that in “any consideration of [carrier of last resort] requirements, the FCC must consider first what gives the FCC authority to preempt obligations that are within the specific jurisdiction of the state and subject to state statutory process,” the filing said. “There was also some discussion of how the FCC could make the existing structures -- [meant] by Congress to be vehicles for cooperative federalism ... more useful, e.g., the Joint Board procedures.” The filing listed issues the task force will examine: “the impacts/issues associated with the rise of smart grid and the increasing nexus between telecommunications and other sectors, cybersecurity and relations with DHS; any State role with respect to the public safety agencies for interoperable broadband networks administered by FirstNet of NTIA; the strong role States must retain with respect to telecommunications infrastructure and disaster response; the impact on State staff resources as the telecommunications oversight role changes, the relation of privacy issues to services delivered by IP architecture and smart grid ... data and information transmitted over the networks of communications providers including whether they should be treated differently than that over networks owned and operated by the electric utility."
The Society of Satellite Professionals International will induct five satellite and technology industry professionals into the 2013 Satellite Hall of Fame. The inductees include SES President Romain Bausch, HBO Chief Technology Officer Robert Zitter and Euroconsult President Susan Irwin, SSPI said in a press release (http://xrl.us/boezqz). The executives will be inducted during a ceremony March 19 in Washington, it said.
China Unicom wants ITU-T to start work on “big data” applications in telecom operations, it said in a proposal to a study group on future networks meeting later this month. The “big data” phenomenon resulting from cloud computing and the Internet of Things “deeply impacts” corporate decision making, business intelligence and the lives of individuals, it said. Telecom operators have the advantage of possessing personal data, it said. Data mining presents many opportunities of commercial value, it said. Analysis of the big data phenomenon lets telecom operators boost marketing through better understanding user profiles, behavior patterns, security and other interests, it said. The rapid development of the mobile Internet, and over-the-top players such as Google and Tencent eating into telecom company revenue, mean operators are under immense pressure from the changing competitive landscape, it said. Accurate marketing spurs telecom operators’ ability to satisfy subscribers’ needs, it said, referring to advertising and value-added services.
The global wireless infrastructure market will be worth $52.2 billion in 2018, research firm Visiongain said Tuesday in a report. That demand for coverage, bandwidth and performance is forcing operators to rethink their strategies for LTE, 3G and Wi-Fi, Visiongain said. Mobile operators’ capital expenditures on infrastructure will increase in 2013; LTE, 3G and Wi-Fi will see their offload equipment revenue share increase, while WiMAX’s share will decrease this year, Visiongain said. The Asia Pacific region looks to be a major contributor to this growth, Visiongain said (http://xrl.us/boezk6).
The California Telehealth Network chose Eceptionist to handle its scheduling, Eceptionist said Tuesday. The partnership is intended to assist the network in “scheduling and referrals for collaborative healthcare services that are provided across” the state of California, the company said (http://yhoo.it/VQuNwL). The arrangement will help the network deliver its services, Eceptionist said.
The FCC Media Bureau dismissed about 3,000 Auction 83 FM translator Form 349 “tech box” proposals to fit with the application cap established in the fifth order on reconsideration for implementing the Local Community Radio Act. The bureau also released the FM translator applicant selection lists and cap showings submitted during the recent window opened for the filings (CD Dec 26 p14), it said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/boezky). “To facilitate access to these filings, the staff has attempted to the greatest extent possible to associate all submissions from each applicant with the applicant’s last filed tech box proposal, regardless of status.” Form 349 is used for applicants seeking new and modified FM translators.
The FCC approved the 2006 biennial regulatory review, amending provisions of its rules pertaining to licensing and operation of satellite service radio stations. It includes two substantive amendments that eliminate requirements “to identify a radio service and station location in correspondence and codifying an established practice of allowing applicants to cross-reference, rather than re-submit, previously filed information regarding non-U.S.-licensed satellites,” the FCC said in a Federal Register notice to be published Wednesday (http://xrl.us/boezgs). Those two amendments require approval by the Office of Management and Budget, and the commission said it will publish a notice in the Federal Register when they become effective. The remaining amendments will be effective 30 days after the publication date of Wednesday’s notice, the commission said.
States running out of numbers are overwhelmingly choosing overlays when addressing new area codes, D.C. Public Service Commission Chairman Betty Ann Kane said at the NARUC meeting Tuesday in Washington. “There may be some acceleration about the exhaust of numbers,” she said, promising more information on that during the NARUC summer meeting. The North American Numbering Council has received plenty of comments on a request for proposals regarding local number portability procurement documents and plans to submit the request and technical documents shortly before its Feb. 21 meeting, she said.
The ratification of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard (CED Jan 29 p9) has been linked to the dawn of 4K x 2K TV, but HEVC’s greatest impact could be on HD, according to Paul Gray, NPD DisplaySearch analyst, in a blog post. The new codec, which will use half the bit rate of H.264/MPEG-4, will “considerably ease the burden on global networks where, by some estimates, video accounts for more than half of bandwidth use,” Gray said. While MPEG-2 enabled DVDs and the first digital broadcasts, its low compression efficiency “made HD difficult,” resulting in adoption limited to Australia, Korea, Japan and the U.S., Gray said. MPEG-4, meanwhile, was initially hailed for making HD broadcasting economical, particularly in “spectrum-challenged Europe” and then to all new digital broadcast deployments, Gray said. But MPEG-4’s most significant impact turned out to be Internet video, “not broadcast at all,” Gray said. As the compression format behind Netflix, YouTube and other streaming services, MPEG-4 “unlocked video from the TV screen,” he said. “It is tempting to imagine” that HEVC will unlock a new era of 4K x 2K broadcasting, Gray said, but “it is also likely that governments will seize the opportunity to sell some more radio spectrum by migrating terrestrial TV to HEVC,” he said. That idea has already been proposed in France, and budget deficit reduction is likely to be a political issue in several countries, he said. Similar to MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 before it, HEVC’s biggest contribution may be in “perfecting the bleeding edge of the previous codec’s application,” Gray said. The fact that tablet and smartphone displays are now HD-capable furthers the need for a broader reach for HD, he said. In the end, HEVC’s main effect “will likely be ubiquitous HD, not 4K x 2K,” Gray said. “The days of your entire HD video library in your pocket are not far away."
Amazon will start collecting sales tax in Connecticut Nov. 1 and will also invest $50 million in the state, building a distribution facility and hiring hundreds of full-time workers, Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) and Amazon said in a joint statement (http://xrl.us/boezeu). They said the sales-tax collection would begin on the cusp of “the most significant months of sales,” the holiday season. Amazon wants a federal law that will standardize e-commerce sales tax collection nationwide, said Paul Misener, Amazon vice president-global public policy: The company will work “with Governor Malloy toward passage of the legislation now being considered by Congress that would finally resolve the sales tax issue, level the playing field for all retailers, protect states’ rights and allow states to collect the revenue owed.” Misener called the facility jobs to be created “good paying jobs with good benefits.” Amazon’s investment will “unquestionably boost our local economy,” though the tax agreement is only a first step, Malloy said: “Federal action on this issue is still necessary."