The FCC Wireline Bureau dismissed a request by Flatel for review of a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision, because the carrier had also requested USAC review of the same decision, an order said (http://xrl.us/bntoyy). “The Commission’s rules do not contemplate concurrent appeals” of USAC decisions, it said.
A 700 MHz interoperability mandate would not mean more interference for AT&T or anyone else, representatives of Vulcan Wireless and C Spire said in a call with FCC Wireless Bureau officials. “The overwhelming weight of the record evidence (and all of the field studies conducted) indicate that an interoperability requirement -- and all of the attendant consumer benefits that it will generate -- will not cause harmful interference to 700 MHz B and C Block licensees,” the carriers said in a filing on the call (http://xrl.us/bnto5g). “First, actual field tests revealed that Channel 51 signals are rarely, if ever, strong enough to adversely impact Band Class 12 devices. AT&T’s laboratory tests to the contrary are contrived and appear designed to mislead. ... Second, multiple independent test measurements demonstrate that Band Class 12 devices perform substantially better than AT&T claims they do.”
A woman who stole $49,000 in E-rate checks was suspended from participating in the E-rate program (http://xrl.us/bnto3t). The FCC is pursuing debarment of Denisa Babcock, Camanche, Iowa, who was sentenced last year to more than five years in prison for the theft of more than $1 million from various Iowa school districts.
AT&T confronted two Texan cities over complaints in filings before the Texas Public Utility Commission Wednesday. The city of Pharr is closing its complaint after receiving “full and final settlement of the complaint” of alleged overbilling, according to an agreed motion of the parties to dismiss (http://xrl.us/bntojw). Houston also complained of AT&T’s service earlier this year and continues in its proceeding. Houston sought to disqualify the administrative law judge presiding over that case in mid-September because the PUC’s administrative law judges (ALJs) “have ruled inconsistently, in ways inconsistent with prior rulings and Commission rules, and that these ALJs appear to tend to favor utilities and Commission Staff over complainants,” Houston alleged Sept. 18 (http://xrl.us/bntoqu). The PUC denied this attempt Sept. 26. Houston appealed the PUC’s decision Oct. 4 and on Wednesday, AT&T urged the PUC to deny Houston’s appeal because it’s “not the proper motion for the relief sought and, alternatively, Houston’s Motion to Disqualify fails procedurally,” according to the filing.
Wireless carriers are putting consumers’ privacy and security at risk when they use and share geolocation data, said a report released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report said wireless subscribers are “generally unaware” of how their location data are shared with third-party users, could be subject to increased surveillance from law enforcement agencies and are at increased risk of identity theft (http://xrl.us/bntow4). GAO said wireless companies have not consistently implemented policies to protect consumers’ privacy while using mobile phones and urged the NTIA to work with carriers to develop industry codes of conduct that would govern their use of consumer geolocation data. Such codes of conduct could subsequently be enforced by the FTC under its authority to curb unfair and deceptive practices, the report said. The report was requested by Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Al Franken, D-Minn., who authored the Location Privacy Act (S-1223). Franken said the report shows that mobile industry companies are giving out consumers’ location data “without their knowledge or explicit consent,” in a news release. He urged lawmakers to support S-1223 as a “commonsense solution” that requires companies to obtain consumers’ permission before they collect or share location information with third parties. Separately, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said he welcomed the report’s recommendations and touted his Mobile Device Privacy Act (HR-6377) as a means to promote greater transparency of the collection and transmission of consumers’ wireless information.
For continued exponential increases in computing power and decreases in cost, “we must allow a competitive private sector to have the freedom to invest and innovate to meet consumer demand,” FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said Thursday, according to prepared remarks (http://xrl.us/bntoz7). McDowell was at a Richmond, Va., elementary school to celebrate the launch of Comcast’s Internet Essentials broadband adoption program. Comcast agreed to start the low-cost broadband program last year to get FCC approval to buy control of NBCUniversal (CD Sept 25 p12). “Increased broadband adoption will help grow America’s economy and increase our global competitiveness,” McDowell said.
U.S. consumers used more than 1.1 trillion megabytes of mobile data from July 2011 to June 2012, a 104 percent increase over the previous 12-month period, said a CTIA survey released Thursday. While consumers are using more data, voice and text than ever before, the average monthly bill went down by $0.07 to $47.16 per month, CTIA said. By June, smartphones made up 131 million -- 41 percent -- of the nearly 322 million wireless subscriber connections in the U.S., while tablet numbers stood at 22 million, or about 17 percent of all U.S. wireless connections, CTIA said. “These figures illustrate Americans’ growing appetite for more mobile data and the wireless industry’s need for more spectrum to meet their demands,” CTIA said in a news release. CTIA said 28,641 cell sites were added in the U.S. over the course of the survey period, for a total of 285,561. CTIA said it got the survey data from companies serving 97 percent of all estimated wireless subscriber connections in the U.S. (http://xrl.us/bntovv).
European consumers want their video communications services to work with one another, said a survey Purple Strategies did for Cisco (http://xrl.us/bntoyf). Eighty-six percent of respondents want video software and devices, such as Apple’s FaceTime, Google Chat and Microsoft’s Skype, to agree to a common standard so that they can be interoperable. When it comes to video calling service Skype, 78 percent of respondents said Microsoft should open Skype to other services, and 72 percent said not doing so is unfair to consumers. The survey was done in September and October and included 1,873 adults in the U.K., France and Germany, with a 2.3 percentage point margin of error.
The FCC International Bureau is seeking comment on LightSquared’s request to no longer adhere to the buildout milestones adopted when Harbinger Capital Partners purchased SkyTerra. LightSquared argued that its ability to provide terrestrial coverage “has been constrained by the need to resolve interference concerns relating to the operations of Global Positioning System satellite services in adjacent frequency bands,” the bureau said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bntow2). The wholesale satellite capacity company said it should be relieved of the conditions until they're reassessed when the status of its ancillary terrestrial component is clarified (CD Sept 25 p19). The buildout requirements include providing terrestrial coverage to at least 100 million people by Dec. 31, at least 145 million people by Dec. 31, 2013 and at least 260 million by the end of 2015, the bureau said. Comments or petitions to deny the request are due Nov. 9. Responses and oppositions are due Nov. 19 and replies Nov. 28, the bureau said. LightSquared said it still intends to deploy a terrestrial network, even though plans have been stalled since the FCC proposed to revoke its ATC authority this year.
The House Judiciary Committee plans a hearing this fall to examine music royalty rates, a committee spokeswoman said Thursday. The spokeswoman would not confirm the date, timing or witnesses invited to the hearing, saying details would be released as the hearing date nears. While a lame-duck Congress is likely to focus most of its energy on financial issues like sequestration, some lawmakers have sought to bring attention to disparities in music royalty payments. Lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced the Internet Radio Fairness Act in September aimed at aligning the differing broadcast platform royalty payments under the same standard used to establish rates for cable and satellite radio services (CD Sept 24 p1). Sponsors of the bipartisan, bicameral bills say they would level the playing field for Internet radio services by placing them under the Copyright Act 801(b) standard. Separately, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., is continuing to work on his alternative legislation called the Fairness in Radio Starts Today Act. The bill, which remains in draft form, would require broadcasters to pay royalty payments related to music feeds they stream over the Internet, and increase royalty rates paid by cable and satellite radio providers to match those currently paid by Internet radio providers like Pandora.