NARUC formally adopted resolutions on federalism and surveillance at the closing session of its annual meeting Wednesday. The resolution on federalism says cooperation and collaboration between state and federal regulators is the best way to ensure communications services remain universally available, affordable and reasonably comparable across the country. Approval marked the end of a yearlong effort to produce an update of a white paper on federalism and telecom in the 21st century. The resolution passed with small grammatical changes and a new clause to recommend that states retain a “prominent role in all decisions related to USF,” added by the telecom committee Monday (http://bit.ly/1h2MSEs). The resolution on government surveillance was significantly changed in committee to say telecom carriers have a obligation to protect customer proprietary network information (CD Nov 19 p13). The staff subcommittee, composed of state commission staff, significantly changed a resolution on cramming to include cramming and porting in its Sunday meeting, but it decided to recommend it to the telecom committee, made up of state commissioners (CD Nov 19 p11). The telecom committee decided to table the resolution until its February meeting in Washington, D.C. for further discussion.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Wednesday named retired Rear Adm. David Simpson chief of the Public Safety Bureau, replacing David Turetsky, who is staying at the commission (http://fcc.us/1jncM2j). Simpson was most recently vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, which oversees communications for the military. From 2009-2010, he was director for Communications and Information Services for U.S. Forces serving in Iraq. Simpson is the second former Navy flag officer named to the post. Retired Rear Adm. Jamie Barnett was chief of the bureau from 2009 through April 2012. Simpson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a master’s degree in systems technology from the Naval Postgraduate School. “Simpson’s extensive experience managing and securing complex and disparate information environments worldwide makes him exceptionally well suited to lead” the bureau, Wheeler said. Barnett said in an email he worked with Simpson at the Pentagon. “He is steeped in networks and cybersecurity,” Barnett said. “I think this signals where Chairman Wheeler would like to go.” Turetsky’s new job at the FCC is coordinator of the FCC’s informal task force on the response to international disasters such as Typhoon Haiyan, the FCC said.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the wireless industry Wednesday announced the launch of “Warriors 4 Wireless,” a nonprofit organization that will steer military veterans to jobs in the wireless industry (http://1.usa.gov/17LQLdI). FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who was at the White House event, said the wireless industry is “winding up” while the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down. “We need armies of skilled workers” to make the buildout of wireless networks work, Wheeler said. “It’s a win for the increasing number of Americans across our nation who rely on wireless networks at work and at home, and the exciting new opportunities that these networks are helping create in health care, education and every corner of our economy.” PCIA President Jonathan Adelstein, a former FCC commissioner, said wireless companies are struggling to fill jobs as they build out LTE . “We're facing a wireless data crunch and carriers are addressing it by building up their infrastructure as quickly as they can,” Adelstein said. “There’s nobody better positioned to help us address this than veterans. ... Too many veterans are having trouble finding jobs.” Cisco and American Tower are among the companies that have agreed to participate in the program.
Users are responding more to video and mobile advertising, but social ads create the largest advertising reach, said a Q3 Global Media Intelligence report from Neustar (http://bit.ly/1fVKYlV). “The report demonstrates the huge opportunities that exist for marketers and brands across key verticals,” said Vice President-Marketing Solutions David Jakubowski. Mobile ads generated 288 percent more impressions than in Q2, but 11 percent fewer clicks. Video network ads saw increases across the board over Q2: Impressions were up 15 percent, clicks were up 73 percent and click revenue grew 48 percent, according to a release. “The value marketers are getting from defining target audiences and reaching them with the right message is driving huge increases in campaign effectiveness and return on marketing investment, which hasn’t been possible before,” Jakubowski said.
The FTC will follow up Tuesday’s Internet of Things workshop with a report on IoT privacy best practices, said Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Jessica Rich in the event’s closing remarks. The report will “capture all the great things we learned today,” Rich said. “This is the beginning of our conversation.” The comment period for the report will stay open until mid-January and the report will drop sometime in the spring, said an FTC spokesman. It’s unclear exactly what role the FTC should take in regulating IoT, Rich said. While it’s clear “industry must step up to ensure privacy and security safeguards are baked into the products and services we talked about today,” the FTC is still “grappling with when and how” to disseminate privacy and security best practices for the IoT, she said. Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen gave her thoughts on the FTC’s role in the matter, earlier at the event: “The FTC’s approach of doing policy R&D to get a good understanding of the technology, educating consumers and businesses about how to maximize its benefits and reduce its risks, and using our traditional enforcement tools to challenge any harms that do arise offers, in my opinion, the best approach.”
Corrections: The satellite broadband speeds that EchoStar now provides are as fast as 15 Mbps, said Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Jennifer Manner (CD Nov 20 p25 ). … The organization with which Steven Metalitz is affiliated is the International Intellectual Property Alliance CD Nov 20 p25). … The amount allocated for the FCC E-rate program is $2.38 billion, said John Bailey, Digital Learning Now executive director (CD Nov 20 p19).
Kansas City residents in Kansas and Missouri have a second opportunity to sign up for Google Fiber, said the company in a blog post Wednesday (http://bit.ly/17LzxND). Residents in the 180 fiberhoods qualified for Google Fiber can sign up until Dec. 22 to get the service installed by spring 2014, said the company. It said that coming in March, residents of Kansas City, Kan., and in Missouri North and South Kansas City, Gladstone, Grandview and Raytown will be able to start signing up for Google Fiber.
Dish Network asked the FCC to dismiss the DBS company’s complaint against Media General and that broadcaster’s request for sanctions against Dish. “The parties have resolved their dispute and signed a confidential settlement agreement,” Dish said in its request. Dish had alleged Media General failed to act in good faith during carriage agreement negotiations (CD Oct 21 p7). In opposition, the broadcaster had asked the FCC to consider sanctioning Dish (CD Nov 18 p23). The companies reached a carriage agreement last week (CD Nov 19 p21).
The use of wireless fleet management systems could save up to 80 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2020, said a report (http://bit.ly/1aGe0DW) released Wednesday by the Wireless Foundation. “This savings is equivalent to the CO2 emissions produced by 22.6 coal-burning plants annually, 1.06 million tanker trucks’ worth of gasoline in the United States, or 16.6 million passenger vehicles on a yearly basis,” the report said “Wireless systems allow fleet managers to optimize their route planning by combining real-time data for vehicle location, fuel efficiency, idle time, engine performance, and other key diagnostics, all of which drive positive environmental impacts.” The foundation is funded by CTIA member companies. “Wireless products and services are making significant impacts to streamline operations, reduce environmental impact and create a sustainable environment,” said CTIA President Steve Largent.
The incentive auction could reduce the number of minorities and women who own broadcast licenses, said the National Hispanic Media Coalition in an ex parte filing released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1cFrVtB). Minorities and women could relinquish ownership because of pressure to participate in the auction or to sell to companies speculating on spectrum, said NHMC. The FCC should release a report after the auction studying its impact on those groups, said NHMC. The commission should also fund studies on the impacts of ownership rule changes on minorities and women, and fully fund the “critical information needs” studies, said NHMC. “Strong media ownership rules are an effective, race-neutral way to provide greater opportunity for people of color and women to own broadcast outlets,” said the ex parte. NHMC also said the Lifeline program should be extended to stand-alone broadband service and that “Lifeline savings” shouldn’t be used to increase the cap on the E-rate program, the ex parte filing said.