The FCC Wireless Bureau released a pleading cycle on a proposed spectrum deal, in which AT&T would buy two Wireless Communications Service licenses from San Diego Gas & Electric. “The proposed transaction would assign 10 megahertz of C and D Block WCS spectrum to AT&T in [Cellular Market Area] 18 (San Diego, California),” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bnqhzh). “Preliminary review of the proposed transaction indicates that, post transaction in this CMA, AT&T would hold 30 megahertz of WCS spectrum, and 120 megahertz of spectrum in total, assuming that the other pending applications in this docket are granted.” Petitions to deny are due Oct. 1, oppositions Oct. 11, replies Oct. 22.
Time Warner Cable asked to be let out of local rate regulation in more than 30 Midwestern local franchise areas, petitions for special relief filed with the FCC Tuesday show (http://xrl.us/bnqhyx). The franchise areas are subject to effective competition and should be exempt from local rate regulation, the petitions said.
AT&T Tennessee asked the Tennessee Regulatory Authority to make sure the TRA includes the company in its list of high-cost recipients compliant with section 254(e) of the U.S. Telecom Act, due to the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. Oct. 1. “As a result of the schedule for TRA conferences in September and this change in process at the FCC [as part of its November USF/intercarrier reform order], AT&T Tennessee was not able to provide the self certification in time for it to be added to a TRA conference agenda prior to October 1, 2012,” the company said in a Tuesday TRA filing (http://xrl.us/bnqhsg). AT&T hopes its actions will not “preclude AT&T Tennessee from receiving the support it is qualified to receive and that it has received for years,” it said.
The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs Wednesday approved S. Con. Res. 50 (http://xrl.us/bnqhzd). It expresses the chamber’s support for “the consistent and unequivocal policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control and preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet today” in response to ITU proposals that seek to change that model. The resolution passed by voice vote. The House passed an almost identical concurrent resolution in early August (CD Aug 3 p10). “Giving the U.N. unprecedented power over Internet governance will open the door for repressive regimes to undermine today’s reality of Internet freedom,” Software & Information Industry Association President Ken Wasch said in a written statement. “Granting this proposal will hurt individuals and the global economy by granting undue power to governments that seek to undermine Internet freedom and international trade. We applaud Sen. Marco Rubio and this bipartisan group of senators for vocalizing these concerns. They join esteemed colleagues in the House and industry groups across the country in urging Administration officials to continue working vigorously in opposition to efforts to enact harmful Internet governance reforms at the World Conference on International Telecommunications this December.” The resolution’s passage “is an important step forward in expressing the sense of Congress that it would be a catastrophic mistake if actions are taken to water down or replace the multi-stakeholder governance process under which the Internet has thrived,” USTelecom President Walter McCormick said. “We pledge our continuing support in working on this effort to ensure restrictions are not placed on the Internet at this critical meeting in December.” After the vote, Rubio, a Florida Republican, told reporters: “I want to be clear that America is on the record ... we don’t want to see sort of any nationally recognized right to government interference of the free flow of information on the Internet.”
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski urged the public not to text while driving, Wednesday during an event sponsored by AT&T at George Washington University. “People who drive while texting are 23 times more likely to have an accident than a non-distracted driver,” he said. “An estimated 160,000 accidents were caused by texting and driving in 2010, and 11 percent of drivers aged 18 to 20 who were involved in an automobile accident and survived admitted they were sending or receiving texts when they crashed.” Mobile communications is changing how people live, Genachowski said. “Text messaging allows people to stay in touch anytime, anywhere,” he said. “But anytime, anywhere should not extend to when you're behind the wheel."
The FCC Media Bureau assessed a $16,000 forfeiture against Opus Broadcasting of Tallahassee, Fla., for public inspection file violations at four radio stations, an order released Wednesday said (http://xrl.us/bnqhxq). A station manager with Opus didn’t immediately respond to our query. The station group had sought to lower the proposed fines, but the bureau declined to do so, the order said. “We reject the Licensee’s argument that its self-reporting of the violations warrants a reduction in the forfeiture.” The violations came to light during the stations’ license renewal process, it said. “The disclosure of violations in this context is not ’self-reporting’ and does not warrant any reduction.” The bureau also rejected several other of Opus’s arguments for lowering the fine, the order said.
Global pay-TV subscriptions should reach 858.1 million by the end of the year, a 5 percent increase from the end of 2011, ABI Research said. The strongest growth should occur in the Asia-Pacific region, it said Wednesday. The “overall Asia-Pacific digital cable TV subscriber base is expected 213 million by the end of 2012, a 27 percent increase from 2011,” said ABI analyst Khin Sandi Lyhn.
The real-world effect of the 10-year, $1.2 trillion across-the-board budget cut set to begin on Jan. 2 as a result of sequestration hasn’t proved a distraction so far, Wireline Bureau Chief Julie Veach said at an FCBA lunch Wednesday. (See story above in this issue.) “Happily for me, the sequestration planning activities are being handled by the Managing Director’s Office,” she said. “I know they're taking it very seriously, but they are so far sparing the bureaus from much of the burden of thinking about it."
The Communications Workers of America agreed on a contract with Verizon, the union said Wednesday. The contract, which covers 34,000 CWA-affiliated employees from Massachusetts to Virginia, will protect the workers’ job security and preserves employees’ current benefit pension plan, CWA said. The agreement comes after 13 months of negotiations, which began after the workers’ old contract expired in August 2011. The expiration of the old contract initially also resulted in a “militant” two-week strike, CWA said. The union has also negotiated a new contract with Verizon for 70 CWA-affiliated technicians who maintain cell sites in the New York City metropolitan area. Local CWA unions will present the contract to members over the next few days. Voting on the contract will take about a month to complete, the CWA said (http://xrl.us/bnqhto). The union previously reached a tentative deal with AT&T on a contract that will cover more than 40,000 employees nationwide, AT&T said last week.
AT&T has seen pre-orders for the iPhone 5 “selling very, very well” since Apple unveiled the new smartphone last week, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said during an investor conference Wednesday. Some of the carrier’s customers have even sought to do an unsubsidized early upgrade to the new iPhone, Stephenson said. AT&T will have actual numbers on the product’s sales a few weeks after it officially debuts, he said. The iPhone 5 is to go on sale Friday. The company feels its discussions with the FCC have been good and that it is on track to get approval soon on its requests for the transfer of 51 WCS licenses from Comcast, Horizon Wi-Com and NextWave, said a report from Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche.