Level 3 began a new global security solutions portfolio Monday that it said will provide multilayered information protection. The portfolio integrates into Level 3’s existing services, which the company said it can bundle together to sell products to suit each customer. Level 3’s new portfolio is part of a wider strategy to employ an “Earth to Cloud” protection approach, which introduces “a new standard of security, with a multi-layered portfolio of protection for customers that we believe is unparalleled in the industry,” Chief Marketing Officer Anthony Christie said in a news release. A new Frost & Sullivan report said the global market for managed security is set to increase from $7.9 billion this year to $15.6 billion in 2016, Level 3 said (http://xrl.us/bnr7jn).
The Voice on the Net Coalition opposes the Colorado Public Utilities Commission’s proposal to regulate interconnected VoIP, Executive Director Glenn Richards told the PUC Friday (http://bit.ly/R7E53P). The proposal was included in the PUC’s broader proceeding to overhaul its telecom rules (CD Sept 10 p5), initiated in August and continuing now in commission hearings in early October. Industry voices weighed in with comments and reply comments throughout August and September. “Regulation of interconnected VoIP would run afoul of federal law and impose costs on the services that would result in increased prices for consumers and would deter further innovation and investment,” Richards said. He encouraged Colorado to follow the lead of other states in avoiding state-specific regulation. Unhindered VoIP can be “a force for increased competition, a platform for innovation, a driver for broadband deployment, and a vehicle for continued economic growth,” he said.
The entire range of Inmarsat products offered by Beam Communications has been approved for sale into the Japanese market. Before gaining approval, Beam completed the testing of its Inmarsat IsatDock Docking Stations and Terra 400/800 and Oceana 400/800 terminals to support the Inmarsat FleetPhone and LinkPhone services, Beam said in a press release (http://xrl.us/bnr7jz). The products will support Japan’s need for emergency communications, Beam said.
Verizon Enterprise Solutions has new cloud and data storage tools that it said will help healthcare providers abide by the patient data privacy requirements established in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act while facilitating the government-mandated move to electronic health records, the company said (http://xrl.us/bnr646). The cloud technology will allow healthcare providers to share patient data and collaborate while keeping the data secure by storing it in Verizon’s Terremark data centers, the release said. The new products will help healthcare providers “with the enormous and costly burden of protecting personal health information for patients,” said Dr. Peter Tippett, vice president of Verizon’s health IT practice, in a statement.
New special access rules must permit geographically large swaths of pricing flexibility, AT&T told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnr6kr). Relief in areas that are too small will turn the contract negotiation process into a “logistical nightmare,” the telco said, arguing for continued relief on a metropolitan statistical area basis. A “building-by-building” approach to pricing flexibility would be a “non-starter” because it would be “analytically and practicably unworkable,” failing to account for special access competition that occurs due to CLECs’ large fiber rings that can readily connect to buildings located nearby, AT&T said. Nor should the commission use a “Horizontal Merger Guidelines ‘market power'” approach, which was developed to evaluate the effect of mergers, not whether an existing firm has market power, AT&T said. Proposed “econometric analyses” to link observable marketplace measures to the existence of “competitive prices” in particular areas would also be impractical and counterproductive, as there is “no non-arbitrary way” to determine what a competitive price is in a particular location, AT&T said. The telco also criticized CLEC calls for a “de minimis” exemption to limit the scope of the special access data request (CD Sept 27 p4).
Greater deployment and adoption of broadband services will promote "key national priorities like energy efficiency and independence,” FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Thursday at the “Georgia Green Economy Summit” in Atlanta, according to prepared remarks (http://xrl.us/bnrtor). Broadband infrastructure can aid the deployment of smart grid technologies, but current regulation “may create economic disincentives for utility companies to choose to implement commercial networks,” she said. The FCC National Broadband Plan recommends that public utility commissions evaluate a utility’s network requirements and commercial network alternatives before authorizing a rate-of-return on private networks, she said. It also encourages PUCs to let recurring network operating costs qualify for a rate-of-return similar to capitalized utility-built networks, she said. The plan also empowers consumers by proposing to give them access to real-time information about their energy use, turning them from “passive recipients of energy” to consumers who take an active role in energy management and conservation, she said. “We should create incentives for consumers to participate willingly in the solutions for energy management.” Clyburn also sought input and collaboration from all stakeholders to ensure the commission develops environmentally friendly policies. The best way to promote “key national priorities” such as energy efficiency and independence is “by working collaboratively,” she said.
Sprint Nextel urged the FCC to assure that Dish Network’s prospective terrestrial network services can coexist with existing and future PCS operations. Sprint filed an ex parte in docket 12-70 concerning a notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at allowing Dish to use wireless spectrum for a terrestrial service (http://xrl.us/bnrtoa). Sprint stated further that it’s committed to collaborating with Dish and members of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project standards-setting process “to adopt emissions protections as quickly as possible.” Sprint supports moving Dish’s uplink 5 MHz to avoid interference of the H block (CD July 26 p17).
The FCC proposed a $15,000 fine against KESQ(AM) Indio, Calif., licensee Gulf-California Broadcasting for failing to maintain a complete public inspection file, an Enforcement Bureau notice of apparent liability said (http://xrl.us/bnrtmv).
The FCC denied a must-carry complaint from low-power TV station KAZV Modesto, Calif., for carriage on Charter Communications’ cable systems, a Media Bureau order released Friday said (http://xrl.us/bnrtmc). The complaint was procedurally flawed, filed late and otherwise faulty, the order said.
Comcast asked to be let out of local rate regulation in two New Mexico local franchise areas. It is subject to “effective competition” in those areas -- in one competitors serve a high enough percentage of the market to warrant such FCC determination and in the other Comcast serves fewer than 30 percent of homes -- it said in a petition for special relief (http://xrl.us/bnrtky).