Intelsat requested an additional 60 days of special temporary authority from Dec. 9 to Feb. 6 to use Intelsat 19 “to provide commercial fixed satellite service using the 12250-12750 MHz frequency band” on a non-interference, non-protected basis at the 166 degrees east orbital location, it said in its application to the FCC International Bureau (http://xrl.us/bn4ypn).
Level 3 Communications agreed to be the primary streaming partner for global nonprofit TED. The group, which is dedicated “ideas worth spreading,” said it will use Level 3’s global media delivery platform to ensure its international audiences receive a reliable and optimized viewing experience (http://xrl.us/bn4ymw).
A confluence of complex smartphone technology and a competitive platform market have resulted in today’s patent wars and inefficient patent litigation, said Fiona Scott-Morton, deputy assistant attorney general for economic analysis in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, at a European competition policy conference Wednesday in Brussels. Vertical integration of operating companies into IP ownership somewhat overcame perceived flaws in the U.S. patent system, she said, according to a prepared version of her speech. “If the parties to a license agreement both manufactured widgets and both owned and licensed IP, then the natural outcome was a cross-license at low royalty rates. Litigation was often not a practical way to gain advantage because the other side could retaliate symmetrically.” That has since changed, and now there is litigation among competitors and by firms that do not compete, Scott-Morton said. While software patents and the rise of “patent assertion entities” have contributed to the problem, complex technology and platform competition have also been major factors, she said. Smartphones combine telecom, Wi-Fi, computer hardware, operating systems and software applications into one device, Scott-Morton said. “With so much going on in one little device, the device could end up implementing hundreds of standards and reading [sic] on many thousands of patents.” Meanwhile, the owner of a mobile platform owns only one piece of the ecosystem, drawing on many complementary products that are necessary for it to be popular with consumers -- a situation similar to what happened with Microsoft Windows and the PC industry, Scott-Morton said. “Symmetry and long-run cooperation aren’t relevant in this game the way they may have been in years past. It is therefore critical for players in this marketplace to use every possible tool at their disposal to gain a competitive advantage for their platforms while they have a chance of tipping a platform in their favor or stopping tipping against themselves” (http://xrl.us/bn4yka).
SES was chosen by a Turkish public broadcaster to deliver broadcast services to audiences in sub-Saharan Africa. Turkey-based TRT will use capacity on SES-5 at 5 degrees east to broadcast a free-to-air digital channel and a radio channel “to the region using the satellite’s unique Ka-band uplink capabilities,” SES said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bn4yg7).
The Eutelsat 70B satellite was successfully delivered into orbit. The satellite was launched by a Zenit-3SL rocket operated by Sea Launch AG from the Odyssey Launch Platform in the Pacific Ocean, Eutelsat said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bn4yf6). It will undergo a full series of in-orbit tests and it’s expected to enter full commercial service in mid-January, it said.
Pennsylvania is expanding its transition period in overlaying area codes. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 5-0 to expand the customer education and permissive dialing period from three months to six months, the PUC said Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bn4yd8). The state plans to implement an overlay, moving from the 570 area code, projected to be exhausted in the third quarter of 2013, to 272. The permissive period allows customers to call “by either dialing ten or seven digits” while the PUC educates them that 10 digits will be necessary after the transition period, according to the commission. The transition period will begin six months before the exhaustion date, it added. The PUC also reauthorized the 911 charges of Philadelphia and Warren counties, neither of which requested a change in rates and that together serve more than 1.5 million Pennsylvania residents (http://xrl.us/bn4yeg).
Intel will join the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) board, the group said Wednesday. Jim Crammond, Intel’s chief technology officer-gateway solutions, will represent the company. Intel had upgraded its membership level with MoCA from the contributing to promoter level, earning it a seat on the board, MoCA said (http://xrl.us/bn4yea).
Globalstar returned one of its satellites to service after it was removed from service last year due to a defective momentum wheel. All 18 of Globalstar’s launched second-generation satellites are now providing commercial service, the company said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bn4yen). Thales Alenia Space was instrumental in developing a solution, a Globalstar spokesman said. A software patch was uploaded to the satellite, permitting it to operate on less than three wheels, he said. “It took Thales, one of their subcontractors and Globalstar to revise the control procedures to accomplish the satellite side of the redesign and ... Globalstar ground control software revision to control the spacecraft.” The final launch of its second-generation satellite constellation is scheduled for February, it said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Wednesday suspended the briefing schedule on Verizon and MetroPCS’s challenge to the FCC’s December 2010 net neutrality “pending further order of the court. “Verizon and MetroPCS earlier Wednesday asked the court for another two weeks, and 1,000 words beyond the 6,000 word limit, to file a joint reply brief on their appeal. The brief is due Thursday. But, the carriers noted, on Tuesday the court handed down its decision upholding the FCC’s data roaming rules (CD Dec 5 p1). The decision is related to the net neutrality appeal and also addresses “the meaning of the Communications Act’s bans on common carriage regulation and the Commission’s statutory authority under Title III of the Act, focusing on Section 303(b) as well as Sections 303(r) … 316,” the carriers said. “These issues are directly and substantially in controversy here.” The two “believe in good faith that they need a brief period of additional time and a modest amount of additional words in order properly to analyze and address the effect of [the data roaming decision] on the arguments in their reply briefs and ultimately on the case, so as to provide the Court with a consolidated analysis of the issues that avoids piecemeal briefing,” the filing said. MetroPCS also asked for a two-week delay and another 350 words beyond the current 2,000 word limit for its separate reply brief. Verizon and MetroPCS said the court could also suspend the briefing schedule, the step it took. The two cases are related, but the court may not draw the same conclusions in the net neutrality appeal, Jeff Silva, analyst at Medley Global Advisors, said in a research note. “It is true: There are similarities in regulatory and legal issues presented in both cases, particularly with respect to the reach and limits of FCC broadband jurisdiction as well as Verizon’s Fifth Amendment takings argument,” Silva wrote. “We would urge extreme caution, however, in any attempt to extract solid predictive value from the D.C. Circuit’s data roaming ruling with respect to the net neutrality appeal still before the court. These are two separate cases, involving varying legal theories, legal precedents, statutory underpinnings and regulatory constructions."
Columbia Gas Transmission asked for an extension until July 1 to get its systems in compliance with the FCC’s private land mobile radio narrowbanding deadline. Parent NiSource said in a filing it has trouble completing the move to narrowband frequencies in the remote areas where the company operates. “Columbia Gas Transmission utilizes wired and wireless (terrestrial and satellite) infrastructure to support and manage the pipeline and storage systems,” the filing said (http://xrl.us/bn4yai). “The affected licenses are primarily used for critical communications and support numerous applications, including: telemetry and pipeline monitoring, command and control of pipeline infrastructure, and internal corporate emergency communications.” At this point, 38 Columbia Gas Transmission industrial/business pool licenses “still require additional hardware and/or modification to satisfy the FCC’s narrowbanding mandate,” the company said.