Verizon defended its service quality in Washington, D.C., amid an ongoing investigation at the D.C. Public Service Commission. The D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel had expressed concern and been looking to receive feedback for months and in town halls this January. Karen Campbell, Verizon vice president-state government affairs, said in a statement Thursday that the telco is “doing a solid job” in D.C. to deliver “the level of service [D.C. customers] want and deserve.” Verizon’s exceeding the “strict” service quality measures the D.C. PSC has set, and complaints have dropped, she said. She touted the telco’s focus on preventative maintenance, the shift to fiber, training and bill credits for reported out-of-service conditions. The people’s counsel had gone to the PSC in August 2011 with, as the counsel said when announcing the town halls, “numerous complaints received from consumers and ratepayers throughout the city about recurring service outages and interference on their telephone lines,” which it said was “inconsistent” with District law’s intent.
A cable operator and broadcaster each got the extra time they sought to meet FCC deadlines on must-carry complaints from the TV station owner, Western Pacific Broadcast, over carriage of WACP Atlantic City, N.J., an FCC official said. The Media Bureau gave Western Pacific to Feb. 13 to reply to Blue Ridge Cable’s opposition to Western’s complaint, as the broadcaster sought (CD Jan 22 p12). Atlantic Broadband separately got its third extension (CD Jan 24 p18) to answer another Western Pacific complaint also for WACP, to Feb. 12. The extensions are being granted by the bureau in emails to the parties, copies of which haven’t yet appeared in the relevant dockets.
In a world of file-sharing, “entertainment industry output and options have been expanding over the last decade,” according to a new study by Floor64 commissioned by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (http://xrl.us/bob627). The study focuses on the books, games, music and video industries in Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Russia and Spain. File-sharing is creating new ways for entertainment industry members to engage with consumers, as evidenced by the growth of markets for e-readers readers and e-books, which are “opening up opportunities for new kinds of content that couldn’t have been published in the past,” said Floor64 and TechDirt CEO Michael Masnick. Similarly, video is seeing increased online distribution -- feature-length films can be “streamed to PCs and mobile devices as well” as broadcast on TV -- and videogames are “moving beyond consoles/PCs to smartphones, tablets, social networks and into nearly every part of daily life,” the report said. These other entertainment industries are learning from the music industry’s initial resistance to file-sharing, said Masnick during a Thursday press call announcing the report. “It appears that certainly [that for] the books, games and films market[s], the transition has probably been less gut wrenching in some ways” than it was for the music industry, he said. “I think they've certainly learned some lessons.” But the music industry is not “waning,” the report said, suggesting that the music industry “focus on adapting to new digital technologies and business models -- not [look] to preserve outdated distribution methods.” As content creators have more opportunities to reach consumers, they face a challenge in that “the roadmap for those creating content or releasing content can be less clear,” Masnick said. While the report generally avoids discussing specific policies and doesn’t take policy positions, he said he hopes the research can inform policy discussions. “Some of these discussions take place without really looking at the data,” he said. Additionally, the study’s authors hope “that it will encourage more openness” among industry and government organizations to share their data.
TracFone representatives explained the company’s SafeLink Wireless Lifeline program this week in a series of meetings at the FCC with Commissioner Ajit Pai and aides to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Chairman Julius Genachowski. “We also discussed several proposals for the Commission to consider as ways to further prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of Universal Service Fund resources in the Lifeline program,” the company said (http://xrl.us/bob6ur). “Those proposals include a requirement that Eligible Telecommunications Carriers retain copies of documentation of program-based eligibility for Lifeline enrollment provided to them by applicants."
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) said in a notice Wednesday that it would review “in its entirety” a ruling by one of its administrative law judges that Samsung had violated Apple patents (http://xrl.us/bob6qz), in the latest chapter in the ongoing legal dispute between the two companies over mobile device patents. The ITC case is separate from Apple’s successful patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif.; Judge Lucy Koh is still conducting post-verdict hearings in that case. Judge Thomas Pender ruled in October that Samsung had violated one of Apple’s iPhone design patents and three of its software patents (http://xrl.us/bnvvnb). If the ruling stands, it could lead to U.S. sales bans on some Samsung products. Apple and Samsung had both asked the ITC to review the ruling, while Google had submitted a public interest statement in the case, the commission said, not mentioning what Google said. The ITC had originally planned to make its final initial determination on the case March 27, but said it will set a new date within 30 days of the notice’s posting.
Crown Castle International (CCI) said it increased its revenue during Q4, but it ended the quarter with a net loss of about $19.5 million due to debt retirement. The cell tower company had a net profit of $48.9 million at the same time in 2011. CCI said its debt retirement during the quarter totaled more than $117 million. The company increased its net revenue to $674.1 million during the quarter, up nearly 30 percent year-over-year from 2011; its revenue from cell site rentals rose to more than $570 million, up 21 percent year-over-year. CCI said Wednesday it expects it will take in nearly $2.5 billion in site rental revenue during 2013, including between $260 million and $265 million from the 7,100 tower sites it’s leasing from T-Mobile USA (http://xrl.us/bob6nq). CCI bought the leasing and operation rights from T-Mobile in late November for $2.4 billion, with an option to buy the towers outright at the end of the 28-year leasing period (CD Dec 3 p17). CCI’s strong revenue growth shows that “investors are underestimating cell site demand and the returns that these companies generate on reinvested cash,” said New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin in an email to investors.
Indiana’s 911 system has gone through a statewide push that’s allowed for consolidation of 911 centers and initiatives like texting from 911, officials said during a National 911 Office webinar. “We have anywhere from five to seven PSAPs [public safety answering points] still facing consolidation,” said Indiana Enhanced Wireless 911 Board Executive Director Barry Ritter, describing 2008 legislation that called for no more than two 911 centers per county and a December 2014 deadline. Centers that refuse to consolidate forfeit any state money. INdigital President Mark Grady, who helps lead the enhanced network commissioned by the state, described a slow, sure evolution of the network. “There’s not really a clear definition of what NG-911 is,” he said, referring to one challenge. The system currently allows 911 operators to text people but not the other way around, he said, saying texting to 911 is slated for later this year. There’s a 160-character limit and a six-second delay, “suitable” for public safety purposes, he said. The texting option has been useful in cases of domestic incidents as well as runaways, he said. Sometimes people won’t answer return calls from 911 but will respond to texts, he said. “The public is not as shocked we can text them as people on this call might be,” Grady said. FCC Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief David Furth described during the Thursday call the “very good comments from a variety of 911 stakeholders” in anticipation of an FCC NG-911 report to Congress due Feb. 22. The report will be all recommendations, “nothing binding,” he added. The FCC is explicitly looking at how to ensure next-generation 911 has “technical compatibility” with the FirstNet public safety network, he said.
EchoStar requested renewals of a series of special temporary authority licenses for its earth stations. EchoStar wants a 30-day STA renewal to operate its earth stations E020306, E080120 and E070273 to provide telemetry, tracking and command for EchoStar 6 at 76.8 degrees west, it said in its applications to the FCC International Bureau (http://xrl.us/bob6b7) (http://xrl.us/bob6ch) (http://xrl.us/bob6cw). DirecTV also requested a 30-day STA beginning Feb. 10 to operate its earth station E930304 “to support the de-orbit maneuvers of the Nilesat-101 satellite,” its application said (http://xrl.us/bob6dk).
Metaswitch Networks, a communications services software provider, signed an agreement with Inmarsat to provide advanced VoIP products for Inmarsat’s Global XPress Ka-band network. Metaswitch will offer voice services “to enable, scale and protect communications,” it said in a press release (http://xrl.us/bob57n). The first satellite in the network is scheduled to launch this year (CD Aug 2/11 p18).
France expanded and amended regulations for fire safety and public order in parts of buildings open to the public, including requirements for wireless telecommunications, it said Jan. 17 in a notification to the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade. The notification specifically addresses requirements for radiocommunication gear. Preparatory work under a 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference agenda item will address a wide range of issues related to spectrum allocations, regional and global harmonization of networks for broadband public protection and disaster relief. “The operator must have a fixed technical installation to ensure continuity of radio communications in the infrastructural parts of the building,” it said. “The operator shall survey, install, use and maintain this installation in accordance with the provisions set out in the … technical instruction” and will be subject to government inspection every three years. The French departments of civil security and fire safety are responsible for the changes. The notification was made because a relevant international standard doesn’t exist or the technical content of the proposed regulation isn’t in accordance with the content of relevant standards. The other reason is that it might have a significant influence on the trade of other WTO member countries. The rules are expected to be adopted in April and enter into force in July. The WTO committee meets next in March.