The FCC and interested stakeholders met Wednesday to consider IPv6 issues for current and next-generation testing architectures, said an ex parte filing made by the commission (http://xrl.us/bn6wqd). The first tests could confirm the ability of consumer premise equipment to use IPv6 protocols, and whether IPv6 was available from the broadband provider, the FCC and stakeholders said. Current estimates are that, among broadband users with IPv6 connectivity, 20 percent of traffic is IPv6 -- and tracking this statistic would valuable to the FCC and others, they said. “Reachability” of hosts over IPv6 is also a valuable statistic, because peering on IPv6 paths can vary between different Internet businesses, they said. IPv6 connections have shown performance benefits for some path because IPv4 connections that traverse carrier network address translation gateways can experience performance degradations, they said.
Ericsson’s request that the FCC exempt sub-contractors from compliance with neutrality requirements should be rejected as “unlawful and bad policy,” Neustar told the Office of General Counsel Thursday, an ex parte filing said (http://xrl.us/bn6woj). Ericsson had said earlier that week that “the neutrality provisions” of the local number portability administrator request for proposal “should apply to ... the prime contractor,” and a bidder should be able to propose a “process for monitoring any subcontracts to ensure their neutrality.” But the requirement that subcontractors comply with applicable neutrality requirements is “well established in the numbering-administration context,” Neustar said. In the absence of such a requirement, a contractor could “circumvent the neutrality rules by assigning all or a significant portion of [Number Portability Administration Center] administration to a non-neutral subcontractor,” Neustar said, arguing this could compromise the “core requirement” of impartiality in number administration. “A subcontractor that is subject to undue influence is just as able to skew performance in a manner that advantages particular entities as the primary vendor."
For a successful transition to a packet-based public switched telephone network, the FCC should first pronounce that the competitive provisions of the Telecom Act “will be enforced regardless of the technology,” CompTel told FCC General Counsel Sean Lev and representatives from the chairman’s office and Wireline Bureau Thursday (http://xrl.us/bn6wix). Interconnection and last-mile access rules are “vital for a functioning competitive communications market,” the association said. If ILECs are allowed to decommission their last-mile copper loops with no available alternative, many businesses will be left with no choice in service provider, CompTel said. “Ethernet over Copper” products are effectively competing with fiber services, and if copper loops are prematurely retired, it could have a “devastating impact on the availability of advanced IP services” for much of the U.S., CompTel said.
The U.S. Council for International Business is disappointed with the outcome of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), USCIB said Monday. The U.S. and U.K. delegations to WCIT were among those that refused to sign a revised version of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) produced at the conference that contained controversial provisions on Internet governance (CD Dec 17 p1). “Like everyone else, I am disappointed with the outcome of the WCIT negotiations,” said David Gross, a member of the U.S. delegation and chair of USCIB’s Committee on Information, Communications and Technology, in a news release. “However, I am encouraged that the world recognizes the vital importance of international telecommunications and the Internet in providing social, cultural and economic benefits to everyone.” USCIB and its business members will now examine WCIT’s outcome and make recommendations on how to move forward, said Barbara Wanner, USCIB vice president of information, communications and technology policy. “This is indeed a disappointing outcome, but we are gratified that the [U.S.] and other countries recognized the paramount importance of maintaining a vibrant and open global Internet,” she said.
The U.S. can’t build its way out of a spectrum crisis, economist Peter Rysavy of Rysavy Research said in a post on the Hightechforum.org website. Rysavy, who has done research for carriers and others in the industry, took issue with recent news reports questioning whether there really is an approaching spectrum crisis. “It is poor science to suggest that investing more in infrastructure or deploying better technology will solve the problem, since the industry is already investing massive sums in infrastructure,” Rysavy said. “The investment argument is a bit like saying that we could solve all of our traffic congestion problems by adding numerous extra lanes to each freeway. Sure, with enough hundreds of billions of extra dollars you could do that. Similarly, if you put in Wi-Fi everywhere, or many hundreds of thousands of small cells (ignoring for the moment that we don’t have the backhaul technology to hook all these up), you could vastly increase wireless network capacity. But the investment cost would now be so high that nobody would be able to afford the resulting service costs."
The FCC should not change its TV whites spaces rules to allow wireless microphones to operate on a licensed basis under Part 74 rules for low-power auxiliary stations, the Wi-Fi Alliance said. The comments responded to an Oct. 5 notice seeking discussion on whether the commission should change the status of these mics, which operate on an unlicensed basis in TV spectrum. “At a time when spectrum available for wireless broadband applications is under increasing strain, it is critically important that the Commission place the highest priority on more efficient spectrum utilization,” the alliance said (http://xrl.us/bn6wj2). “While the Wi-Fi Alliance agrees that certain users of these devices might feel inconvenienced by the Part 15 designation and restriction to a limited number of channels, it is not clear at this time that expansion of Part 74 eligibility is warranted.”
Google Fiber has made closing the digital divide all the more pressing, Connecting for Good President Michael Liimatta said on a Gigabit Nation podcast. “Google Fiber coming to Kansas City really accentuated the digital divide,” he said Monday, describing the network now promising broadband transmission speed of 1 gigabit a second in Missouri and Kansas. Because people with 100 times the bandwidth (with Google Fiber speeds) will be far more connected than people who still have nothing or next to nothing, “We'll become the most bandwidth-rich city in America,” Liimatta said. “Let’s not make the digital divide 100 times wider.” Google’s arrival is “an opportunity for us” in terms of awareness, he said. The first phase of the non-profit Doing for Good’s Rosedale Ridge Wi-Fi project began last week, connecting 200 low-income families in Kansas, Liimatta described in a blog post Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bn6whw). “To do this, we became an ISP ourselves and are buying wholesale bandwidth,” he wrote. “We are using a point-to-point 100 Mb connection that will deliver up to 50 Mb of Internet connectivity there.” He once hoped that Google would provide such a wireless network to low-income housing, but in September learned it “does not fit their current business model,” “a real surprise,” he wrote then (http://xrl.us/bn6wju). Wednesday, he wrote about attempts to sign up low-income people for Google Fiber’s $300 for seven-year service package as well as secure computers for them. Google Fiber has achieved a “good rhythm of installations and customer support” and plans to “pick up the pace” in installing what it’s calling “fiberhoods” -- neighborhoods wired with its fiber -- said a Monday blog post by Rachel Hack, Google Fiber Community Manager (http://xrl.us/bn6v98). Google has begun “slowly” in the Hanover Heights and Dub’s Dread neighborhoods of Kansas City, Kan., as part of the installation, which will take place first in the city’s Kansas side and then in Missouri. Next up are five neighborhoods: Piper Schools, Delaware Ridge, Painted Hills, Open Door and Arrowhead. Residents need to choose Google Fiber plans by certain deadlines in January through March if they want the service.
The FTC should investigate a mobile game from Nickelodeon -- a cable network for children -- and mobile game company PlayFirst, the Center for Digital Democracy said in a complaint Monday (http://bit.ly/Wjuc6c). CDD said a mobile game from the two companies, SpongeBob Diner Dash, violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by asking “children to provide a wide range of personal information, including full name, email address, and other online contact information, without providing notice to parents or obtaining prior parental consent.” The game claims to be COPPA-compliant in the Apple App Store, where it’s offered for free, CDD wrote. “The Commission needs to step up its enforcement actions and adopt new rules that will address the growing threats to children’s privacy in the expanding mobile marketplace,” CDD Executive Director Jeff Chester said in a statement. “We were just made aware of this complaint from press reports filed this morning and are currently investigating it,” a Nickelodeon spokesman said in an email.
The FCC should revise the one-year limit on a USF contributor’s ability to re-file its FCC Form 499 and obtain a refund from the fund, CTIA officials said in a meeting with Nicholas Degani, aide to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. “CTIA urged the Commission to replace the current rule with a reasonable, symmetrical deadline for revised Form 499 filings,” said an ex parte filing on the meeting (http://xrl.us/bn6wir). “As CTIA has previously explained, the one-year deadline set in the Bureau Order1 is unfair, procedurally defective, and arbitrary and capricious.” CTIA complained in particular that the rule places no time limits on revisions that increase a filer’s contribution.
Google will probably agree to a settlement with the FTC, Paul Gallant, a telecom policy analyst with Guggenheim Partners, wrote investors Monday. He cited news reports that an “informal settlement,” rather than an antitrust lawsuit, is imminent. A suit is unlikely “because U.S. antitrust law makes this a very difficult case for the FTC to win and because of Google’s relationship with the Obama Administration,” Gallant said. The Department of Justice is unlikely to bring an antitrust suit against Google, he said. Instead, Gallant wrote, the FTC settlement will likely be informal and focus on “the key issue of Google’s power in search” in addition to “a formal consent decree requiring Google to license certain wireless patents to competitors on reasonable terms.” Despite “tougher antitrust law in Europe and Google’s lack of political support relative to here in the U.S.,” Gallant wrote, a formal consent decree is more likely than a suit from the European Commission. The EC decree will likely include “some modifications to its search business as well as other matters affecting search ad portability and Google ’scraping’ reviews and content from other websites,” he said.