Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., introduced legislation to prohibit mobile service providers from receiving universal service support through the FCC’s Lifeline program. Griffin’s spokesman said the bill, HR-176, is “identical” to the congressman’s Stop Taxpayer Funded Cell Phones Act (HR-3481), which failed to advance last session.
The IEEE Standards Association Standards Board approved the IEEE 802.11ad-2012 amendment, IEEE said Tuesday. The amendment provides for data rates up to 7 Gbps -- more than 10 times the previous maximum speed enabled by the standard, IEEE said. The amendment also acts as a “foundation for tri-band networking, wireless docking, wired equivalent data transfer rates and uncompressed streaming video,” IEEE said. Wireless services will be able to transition between the 60 GHz band and the legacy 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, meaning mobile devices will always be “best connected,” IEEE said. “By migrating up to the next ISM [Industrial, Scientific and Medical] band (60 GHz), we break ground on new spectrum for IEEE 802.11, enable an order of magnitude improvement in performance and enable usages that have never before been possible with existing IEEE 802.11 -- namely wireless docking and streaming video,” said Bruce Kraemer, chair of the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Working Group, in a news release (http://bit.ly/ZmeJ5a). The Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) Alliance, which contributed to the amendment, praised the standards board Tuesday for approving it. “Our members have worked closely with IEEE on developing the standard,” said WiGig Alliance President Ali Sadri in a news release. “We are excited to say that the WiGig MAC/PHY [Media Access Control layer and the PHY or Physical Layer] specification is completely aligned with the published 802.11ad standard. Gaining approval from a global standardization body gives WiGig Alliance additional international recognition and moves us one step closer to widespread industry adoption."
Netflix’s Open Connect content delivery network (CDN) is now delivering a majority of Netflix’s international traffic -- in Europe, Canada and Latin America -- and is growing “at a rapid pace” domestically, Netflix said Tuesday. “Leading-edge ISPs around the world such as Cablevision, Virgin Media, British Telecom, Telmex, Telus, TDC, GVT, among many others, are already participating in Open Connect to provide the highest-possible quality Netflix service to consumers,” said Netflix CEO Reed Hastings in a news release. “Our goal is to have all of our members served by Open Connect as soon as possible.” ISPs were first able to receive Netflix video at no cost over the Open Connect CDN in early 2012. Open Connect allows ISPs to more effectively manage their networks and effectively deliver services to their subscribers, Netflix said. Open Connect partners get access to Netflix’s Super HD video format, the highest quality format available through the service. ISPs that use the CDN in the U.S. can also now stream a “small number” of titles in 3D; Netflix said it may consider making 3D available to Open Connect partners internationally depending on member demand (http://bit.ly/Xhyc7z).
Intelsat, EchoStar and Gogo requested special temporary authority for their satellites and earth stations. Intelsat requested a further STA of 30 days to drift Intelsat 706 from 72 degrees east to 157 degrees east, “where it will eventually operate in the C and Ku bands in inclined orbit,” it said in its application to the FCC International Bureau (http://xrl.us/bn9wwa). Intelsat also wants an extended STA to stop the drift of Intelsat 701 and operate the satellite at 157 degrees east in the C and Ku bands in inclined orbit mode, it said in a separate application (http://xrl.us/bn9wwc). EchoStar seeks a 60-day STA to operate its transmit/receive earth station with EchoStar 16 at the 61.5 degrees west orbital location, it said in an application (http://xrl.us/bn9wv8). Gogo requested an extension and expansion of its previously granted STA. It wants a 60-day extension beginning Jan. 15, “to permit operation of up to 20 Ku band earth station aboard aircraft terminals for in-flight testing” (http://xrl.us/bn9wu5).
AT&T has already undergone much work in dealing with state regulatory bodies for a possible transition to all-Internet Protocol networks, said Hank Hultquist, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Monday. AT&T asked the FCC last year to launch a proceeding concerning the transition from legacy time division multiplexing phone service to IP networks (CD Nov 8 p11). “We have been seeking reform of state laws to set the table for this and in a number of our states we believe we are in a position to begin this process,” he said. The transition will require changes in state regulations, though if there is “some holdout state that is standing in the way of the transition,” the FCC has the authority to preempt state law that isn’t consistent with federal objectives, though he’s hopeful it won’t come to that, said Hultquist. AT&T would like the FCC to initiate the process to begin testing by the end of the year so AT&T can “come in with our plans” for the trials, said Hultquist. The move to all-IP will include a grandfather period in which AT&T wouldn’t allow any new non-IP subscribers, but would continue to provide service, said Hultquist. Following that period, the company would eventually shut down the service completely, he said.
Overreaching regulation is a major threat to the progress and the freedom of the Internet, said Dan Brenner, a former cable lawyer at Hogan Lovells who left the firm recently to become a judge in Los Angeles. Brenner spoke at length about regulatory concerns largely focused on the recent World Conference on International Telecommunications, on a panel Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “All we don’t need is for governments to get in there and start messing around with who can go on the Web and how you can go” and “we have a large job in this country to convince countries that their future relies on a free and open Internet,” he said. “We have to be extremely careful about injecting international policy or even national policy into a system that is fundamentally working between networks and content providers."
Cyberdefenders won’t beat cyberattackers without understanding their methods, the European Network and Information Security Agency said Tuesday in its first threat landscape report (http://bit.ly/UxZsMS). The document includes an overview of current and emerging threat trends, the latter focused on mobile computing, social media technology, critical infrastructure, trust infrastructure, cloud and big data. The top 10 threats are: (1) Drive-by exploits in which malicious code is injected to take advantage of Web browser vulnerabilities. (2) Worms and trojans. (3) Code injection attacks. (4) Exploit kits -- ready-to-use software packages that automate cybercrime. (5) Botnets. (6) Distributed denial of service attacks. (7) Phishing. (8) Compromising confidential information via data breaches. (9) Rogueware. (10) Spam. Of all the threats in the current and emerging trends, only spam is declining, ENISA said. Most others are increasing or remaining stable, it said. The agency recommended that better evidence about attack vectors and the impact achieved by adversaries be collected and analyzed, and that more data be maintained about threat agents. It also called for a common terminology for threat reports. The user’s perspective should be included in dealing with cyberthreats, it said. ENISA also suggested that security intelligence be collected that covers incidents in an end-to-end manner, and that security controls be shifted to accommodate emerging threat trends.
Cisco introduced Videoscape Unity, a new and expanded version of its Videoscape video services delivery platform. The platform will enable service providers and media companies to “deliver new intuitive and synchronized” multiscreen video services to customers, it said. The services will include a multiscreen cloud DVR allowing users to restart TV programs, catch up on past shows and play back DVR-captured content “from anywhere, on any screen,” it said. Consumers increasingly want to be able to view content on multiple devices, especially tablets, Balan Nair, Liberty Global chief technology officer, said in a panel led by Marthin De Beer, Cisco senior vice president-Video and Collaboration Group, during the news briefing. New technologies like Videoscape Unity are creating potential new revenue streams for companies like Liberty, said Nair.
Time Warner’s HBO said it renewed its agreement to carry Comcast’s Universal Pictures domestic movies. Along with HBO’s deals with movie studios, the deal is valuable for Time Warner, Chief Financial Officer John Martin told investors during a Citi conference Monday: “Having access into the next decade to a substantial amount of Hollywood output on an exclusive basis in the pay-television window” helps solidify HBO’s future.
The Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA) supports a telco’s petition for waiver of the monthly cap on total federal USF support, and the quantile regression model benchmarks adopted by the FCC Wireline Bureau (http://xrl.us/bn9tci). In comments Monday, WTA said the “unique circumstances” facing the telco, South Park, give its rural Colorado customers a “significant risk of losing access” to its network of broadband and voice services. Because the “very sparsely-populated rural area” has “no comparable service or coverage from alternative providers of voice or broadband,” the FCC should grant South Park’s petition, WTA said.