An ITU-T study group on future networks will “expand and accelerate” its work on software-defined networking (SDN), said an ITU blog post from the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, referring to preliminary agreement on a new resolution (http://bit.ly/ToyB4U). Networks have become increasingly complex, error-prone and difficult to manage as new devices and users have connected and boosted traffic figures, it said. SDN proposes to decouple the control and data planes and let software boost speed and flexibility in routing, security and energy management of network gear, such as routers and switches, it said. High-level industry representatives last week recommended ITU-T collaborate with academia, groups like the Open Networking Foundation and others, it said. They also suggested ITU-T conduct studies into the impact of SDN for developing countries, it said.
The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has partnered with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association to encourage businesses’ awareness and participation with ICANN, the ICC said (http://xrl.us/bn3wo3). The partnership was originally announced at the Internet Governance Forum earlier this month and will utilize ICC’s “global and diverse business network” to include businesses in ICANN’s program to assign generic top-level domains, ICC said. The program “will dramatically increase the need for ICANN to work with businesses all over the world,” ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade said in a statement. “Our hope is that by utilizing their existing networks we can engage in a constructive dialogue."
MTX Connect asked the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau to reserve shared country and identification codes, and shared mobile country and network codes, for machine-to-machine networking and Internet access using mobile solutions such as 2G and 3G, we've learned. The company aims to provide data services, not voice, we've learned. The numbering resources would be used for roaming, including registration, transfer of subscriber data and to spur international connectivity. The company is working with a number of mobile network operators.
Worries that Softbank’s purchase of 70 percent ownership of Sprint Nextel will lead to steep price cuts or a spike in capital expenditures “may be overdone,” New Street Research analyst Kirk Boodry said Tuesday in an investor report (http://xrl.us/bn3wh7). Softbank “should bring more discipline to cost management in the U.S.,” Boodry said in the report. “Even without that, however, we believe Sprint is already on a recovery path that should add value over time.” Softbank announced last month that it had agreed to buy control of the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier for $20.1 billion (CD Oct 16 p1). Investors should put Softbank’s actions after its 2006 purchase of Vodafone Japan into context as they divine what to expect if the Sprint deal goes through, Boodry said. While there were steep price reductions after Softbank acquired Vodafone Japan, those reductions were inevitable and were not a product of the acquisition, he said. New Street analyst Jonathan Chaplin said Wednesday in an email to investors that the report supports his belief that “Softbank will probably not push an aggressive pricing strategy in the U.S.” There has also been some controversy surrounding Softbank’s use of telecom equipment from Chinese-owned Huawei and ZTE, and that is likely going to impede Softbank from working with either company in connection with Sprint, Boodry said. The House Intelligence Committee said last month in a report that it “strongly” recommended that U.S. companies not do business with either company because of national security concerns (CD Oct 10 p3). Still, industry sources have said that is unlikely to derail the deal (CD Oct 22 p3).
The FCC is seeking further comment on its rules for future awards of USF monies under Phase II of the new Mobility Fund. The public notice was released by the Wireless and Wireline bureaus and asks a broad array of questions on identifying and prioritizing areas eligible for support, among other issues. Comments are due Dec. 21, replies Jan. 7. “Building on the comments filed in response to the [further notice of proposed rulemaking] and our experience to date in implementing a reverse auction to award one-time Phase I support, the Bureaus seek to develop a more comprehensive, robust record on certain of the issues related to the award of ongoing support for advanced mobile services,” the notice said (http://xrl.us/bn3wcm). “In this regard, we note that a number of commenters support having an opportunity to evaluate and learn from Mobility Fund Phase I before the program details of Phase II are finalized. In considering the issues discussed below, we request that commenters keep in mind that Phase II support is not one-time support, but is ongoing Phase II support aimed at expanding and sustaining mobile services."
Some proposed revisions to the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) violate the commitments the proposing nations made under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its General Agreement on Trade in Services, the European Centre for International Political Economy said Wednesday in a report. The report, commissioned by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said WTO member-states are bound to commitments that bar them from imposing restrictions on common Internet services -- commitments they would break if some proposed revisions to the ITRs pass at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), which begins Monday in Dubai. WTO member-states must also abide by the WTO’s e-commerce moratorium, which bars them from charging access fees for data, whether or not such a charge is discriminatory, the report said. Access charges have been a source of controversy in the lead-up to WCIT. The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations declined to sponsor a proposal from the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) that would institute a “sender party pays” rule, but nations in Africa and the Middle East have since submitted their own ETNO-like proposals for consideration at WCIT (CD Nov 5 p6). Delegates to WCIT will need to consider the commitments their nations made to the WTO, said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, co-author of the report, in a news release (http://xrl.us/bn3wbr). “Whatever the outcome will be during WCIT, it will not provide a carte blanche to disrupt data flows” or discriminate against foreign entities in violation of the WTO rules, Lee-Makiyama said. “Such market interference will lead to costly trade retaliations.” Any WTO member state that violates these commitments could be subject to WTO trade retaliation. The e-commerce moratorium is also politically linked to pledges not to pursue certain intellectual property violation cases in developing nations, the report said (http://xrl.us/bn3wcb).
A European-based scamming operation was ordered to pay more than $10 million to the FTC after allegedly tricking small businesses and nonprofits into paying for unwanted listings in online business directories (http://xrl.us/bn3wa4). The U.S. District Court in Chicago ordered Yellow Page Marketing B.V. and other defendants to pay back its entire net sales from the operation, in which they were alleged to trick customers into believing they were affiliated with the customers’ local yellow pages directories, the court said. The FTC filed the lawsuit in July 2011 after receiving several hundred complaints from consumers who had received suspicious faxes claiming to be from their local yellow pages, it said.
The Educational Media Foundation further urged the FCC to consider its concerns regarding the proceeding for service and eligibility rules for FM translator stations. EMF recounted teleconferences with Chairman Julius Genachowski’s staff and Commissioner Robert McDowell’s staff in an ex parte filing in dockets 07-172 and 99-25 (http://xrl.us/bn3wab). EMF urged the FCC to consider its concerns around the proposed nationwide cap of 50 applications for FM translator stations, the filing said. EMF said previously that it was concerned that the cap isn’t justified and it’s arbitrary (CD May 11 p15).
The city of Houston asked the FCC for a waiver of the commission’s Jan. 1 narrowbanding deadline until Aug. 31. The city “has planned for the replacement of its aging communications system and is committed to meeting the FCC’s narrowbanding requirements as defined in this Request for Waiver,” Houston said (http://xrl.us/bn3v93). “The City fully expects to meet this mandatory narrowbanding requirement as quickly as possible ... . Because most of our system infrastructure equipment is not capable of conversion to 12.5 kHz operation, we are in the process of replacing our system with a fully digital 700 MHz Project 25 multi-simulcast system.” Houston said it had planned to meet the deadline, but has had to address software issues with its radios after concerns were raised by its radio vendor, Motorola.
The FCC Wireless Bureau extended the deadline for filing comments on its ongoing review of the FCC’s wireless hearing aid compatibility rules from Dec. 26 to Jan. 7. “Given the proximity of the filing deadline to a federal holiday, as well as our desire to encourage thoughtful consideration of the important issues raised in this proceeding, we believe that a grant of additional time within which to file comments will help to facilitate careful and deliberate consideration of these matters,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bn3v8s).