The FCC must “drop the hammer” on carriers who fail to complete calls to rural areas, NARUC told an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bodpcr). Non-compliant carriers have “not been deterred” by the Feb. 2012 declaratory ruling about the importance of call completion rules. Those carriers “obviously need to see actual enforcement actions with significant consequences,” NARUC said. The association cited the “Magic Jack” phone call device, which says in its terms of service that “some restrictions in cost prohibitive areas may apply,” as a company that needs FCC scrutiny. Instead of the proposed call completion rulemaking seeking comment on data collection to quantify the problem (CD Jan 25 p1), the FCC should “just simply mandate the data collection now,” NARUC said.
Free Press criticized Tribune for hiring Eddie Lazarus as general counsel (CD Jan 30 p16), saying that’s part of the revolving door between agencies like the FCC and industries they oversee. The former chief of staff to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski “may be just the latest to take a spin through the revolving door, but that doesn’t make his move any less nauseating,” Free Press CEO Craig Aaron said in a news release Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bodper). The foe of loosening media ownership rules that are the subject of a draft FCC order (see separate news item below in this issue) said Lazarus’s hire comes as Genachowski “is so eager to trash the few remaining media ownership limits.” A Tribune spokesman declined to comment.
Dish Network would “suffer more” from an injunction barring its AutoHop commercial-skipping feature than ABC would suffer “without one,” Dish said in court papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC have filed parallel contributory infringement suits against Dish seeking to have AutoHop barred, and Dish has countersued for a declaratory judgment that AutoHop is legal. Being forced to disable AutoHop would deal Dish a “devastating blow,” the pay-TV provider said. Dish would suffer “severe, immediate hardship in the form of damaged customer relations, lost good will, and other costs,” it said. Launching a new product “is always a risky proposition,” Dish said in the filing, the public version of which was heavily redacted to hide Dish’s competitive secrets, including how much the company has spent bringing AutoHop to market and how many customers subscribe to the feature. If AutoHop were to be “enjoined now, the investment will effectively be lost,” it said. Dish also “will be forced to mount a massive campaign” to notify users that AutoHop will no longer work. “That process itself will be costly, but the aftermath will be far costlier,” Dish said. “Some users will demand refunds or downgrade their service,” it said. “Others will cancel their service completely,” and sign up with Dish’s competitors, it said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau should issue its mandatory special access data request (CD Dec 19 p1) as quickly as possible, tw telecom CEO Larissa Herda told Chairman Julius Genachowski Friday, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bodpb2). In the meantime, the commission should adopt interim rules to “mitigate the harmful effects” of ILEC special access “discount” plans, Herda said. She encouraged the commission to complete the entire special access rulemaking proceeding by spring 2014. Herda also discussed the Internet Protocol transition, telling Genachowski the best way to promote deployment of new technologies is by updating last-mile access policies and rejecting ILEC arguments that new technologies warrant eliminating pro-competitive policies.
Wavestream, a Gilat subsidiary, received a contract from Honeywell to supply Ka-band transceivers for in-flight connectivity to the Inmarsat Global Xpress network. The transceivers will be integrated into the on-board hardware developed by Honeywell, Gilat said (http://xrl.us/bodpci). Scaled production of the transceivers is expected to begin in 2014, it said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau released the 2013 capital and operating expense benchmarks it will use to determine reimbursable high-cost loop support, a public notice said (http://xrl.us/bodo96). The bureau determined the benchmarks by using the same regression analysis and coefficients as the 2012 benchmarks, it said. Specific figures, which will be used by NECA in calculating 2013 support, are available at http://xrl.us/bodpa3.
The Wireless Communications Association urged the FCC to refrain from issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking based on Globalstar’s petition to operate a terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) with mobile satellite service spectrum. WCA said it’s “particularly troubled by the potential for Globalstar’s terrestrial operations to cause interference to the BRS [broadband radio service] Channel 1,” it said in reply comments in docket RM-11685 (http://xrl.us/bodoqr). It’s unclear how Globalstar will maintain control over the upgraded devices that belong to its customers, “so that Globalstar will be able to remotely reduce power, limit bandwidth, or, if necessary, cease operations should interference to BRS Channel 1 occur,” it said. Globalstar said its petition builds on the momentum of the FCC’s recently-adopted AWS-4 order that gave authority to Dish Network to build a terrestrial network with MSS spectrum. The petition “undertakes similar pro-consumer, pro-investment reform of the Big LEO MSS-terrestrial rules,” it said (http://xrl.us/bodou9). The incorporation of high selectivity passband filters into TLPS access points “will also limit the risk of harmful interference to BRS-1,” it said. As developed through the rulemaking process, the commission’s rules, including Globalstar’s proposed out-of-band emission limits, “should provide sufficient protection to Clearwire and other 2.5 GHz licensees,” it said. Iridium further opposed the petition and claimed that it’s “at odds with the fundamental purpose of the Big LEO band, which provides essential MSS to first responders, U.S. military, U.S. government and commercial users,” it said (http://xrl.us/bodo54). The LTE proposal raises special concerns about the potential for harmful interference to MSS that have not been addressed, it said. The record reflects that the petition “lacks even the most fundamental information about its proposals,” it said. The Engineers for the Integrity of Broadcast Auxiliary Services Spectrum agreed that the petition leaves unanswered questions, “but these unanswered questions could be addressed at the NPRM stage,” it said (http://xrl.us/bodo6v). The group said it is disappointed that the U.S. GPS Industry Council “seems as uninformed about broadcaster’s use of the 2.5 GHz band as are the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi user groups.” Concerns regarding interference and the potential effect on unlicensed operations in the 2.4 GHz band matter to CEA, the association said (http://xrl.us/bodo9b). The TLPS could create new filtering issues for the Wi-Fi device manufacturers and potentially require them to “change filters in order to address new out-of-band-emissions from Globalstar’s operations,” it said.
Municipalities shouldn’t burden broadband providers with regulation, said Broadband for America in a Wednesday blog post (http://xrl.us/bodo43). The unsigned post zeroed in on Google Fiber and the incentives it received in the Kansas and Missouri jurisdictions of Kansas City, and cited statements from Google employees. “Policymakers everywhere can learn a lesson from their peers in Kansas City in that they should do whatever they can to welcome and incent private investment by removing legacy regulatory burdens,” Broadband for America said.
Connected Tennessee will hold the state’s first broadband summit Feb. 27, it said Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bodo3j). The meeting will be at the Nashville Public Library and “bring together local and state representatives from various industries including government, education, healthcare and more to learn about broadband best practices in the state, discuss strategies to address remaining barriers to broadband access, adoption, and use, and to network with other leaders across the state working to bridge the digital divide,” Connected Tennessee said. It said its goal is to update stakeholders on Connected Tennessee’s progress and highlight the value of broadband. The organization is a part of the national Connected Nation, which provides broadband mapping and advocacy in many states around the country.
The European Space Agency gave Astrium contracts collectively worth about $146 million to cover the development of the Ariane 6 and Ariane 5 ME launchers. Under the contracts, Astrium will launch initial definition and feasibility studies for the future Ariane 6 European launcher, Astrium said in a press release (http://xrl.us/bodo4x). The study phase is aimed at identifying the concept and architecture for Ariane 6 “and will set out the new launcher’s main specifications prior to its industrial development,” it said.