The FCC Wireless Bureau set a pleading cycle on AT&T’s proposed buy of various spectrum licenses from CenturyTel Broadband Wireless. AT&T wants to take control of 51 lower 700 MHz B-block, four lower 700 MHz C-block and six AWS-1 licenses from CenturyTel, said a bureau notice (http://xrl.us/bnpgug). The companies said the buys would help AT&T’s effort to roll out LTE in 54 cellular market areas, the bureau said. “Preliminary review of the application indicates that post-transaction, AT&T would hold, in total, 33-143 megahertz of spectrum,” the notice said. “In addition, in 25 of the CMAs that are the subject of this application, AT&T would hold, post-transaction, a maximum of 55 megahertz of spectrum below 1 GHz.” Petitions to deny are due Sept. 25, oppositions Oct. 5, replies Oct. 15.
Rising LTE deployments, the proliferation of smartphones and a boom in mobile app usage are converging to cause diameter network signaling traffic to swell through 2016, said Tekelec, a company that provides mobile broadband management solutions, including work with diameter. diameter’s the protocol providers use to exchange information over LTE networks. The number of diameter messages per second (MPS) is predicted to increase to 47 million by 2016, up from 87,000 diameter MPS in 2011 -- a compound annual growth rate of 252 percent, Tekelec said Wednesday. The growth of diameter signaling traffic directly correlates with new LTE services and business models, including over-the-top app services like video and social networking, mobile cloud services and mobile payment services, the company said (http://xrl.us/bnpgua).
Sinclair’s deal to buy six TV stations from Newport TV won’t be blocked by U.S. antitrust authorities. Early termination of the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust waiting period was granted Aug. 28, for a transaction involving Sinclair and Providence Equity Partners, by the FTC and Justice Department, said a commission notice of such terminations in Wednesday’s Federal Register (http://xrl.us/bnpgt8). Sinclair agreed to buy the former Clear Channel TV stations now operated by Newport TV, co-founded by Providence, for about $412.5 million (CD July 20 p7).
SpaceX agreed to launch three additional SES satellites. They'll be launched either on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rockets, the companies said in a news release Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnpgut). It said the deal builds on the partnership last year, which included the signing of the agreement for SES-8, “due for launch in 2013.” The four Falcon missions “will support the enhancement of SES’ global fleet of satellites,” the companies said. The first mission under the new contract is scheduled for 2015, they said.
A telco selling TV and a group representing local franchise authorities disagreed over local franchising authorities’ role in video competition. CenturyLink and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, as well as individual LFAs and public, educational and governmental channels, commented Monday in docket 12-203 (http://xrl.us/bnpgrw) on an FCC notice of inquiry for a multichannel video competition report covering the 52 weeks through June 30 (CD Sept 12 p7). The telco supported statewide video franchise laws, while the association said they didn’t always increase competition. “To maintain and expand that competitive choice it is critical that CenturyLink is able to obtain reasonably-timed and reasonably-termed franchises to provide its video services,” telco with 94,000 Prism pay-TV customers said (http://xrl.us/bnpgsv). Getting “reasonably-termed franchises” is an “economic consideration” for the telco, it said. “As a new MVPD entrant in markets where there are generally at least an incumbent cable provider and a direct broadcast satellite provider it is important that CenturyLink is able to obtain the necessary franchising permissions to offer its video service without undue delay. Franchise processes that take too long may result in changed economic circumstances that make Prism TV deployment less favorable in an area. This can include situations where multiple approvals are needed for nearby areas to result in a viable Prism TV launch. States that have moved to statewide video franchises are generally more appealing to new entrants evaluating market launches for competitive video services. States interested in competitive video service choices ... should consider the benefits of authorizing statewide video franchises.” With “immediate and extensive” video service buildout requirements “unrealistic,” LFAs “that afford flexibility in how non-incumbent video providers offer their services will be the most successful in attracting new video delivery options and offering their residents the greatest choice in their video delivery options at the best prices,” CenturyLink said. Not all municipalities have at least two competitive cable operators, an “unfortunate” thing, NATOA said (http://xrl.us/bnpgts). That’s “even with industry backed state legislative initiatives that were sold to policy-makers and consumers as a way to increase video service competition,” the group said. “With Verizon’s public statements that expansion of its FiOS service is over, AT&T’s acknowledgement that its U-verse build-out is over, and uncertainties over any further Google fiber projects, this situation is not likely to change any time soon."
EchoStar Broadcasting Corp. requested a renewal of its special temporary authority to operate its ground station to provide tracking, telemetry and command for the EchoStar 6 satellite at 76.95 degrees west. EchoStar applied for a renewal with the FCC International Bureau (http://xrl.us/bnpgrh). The International Bureau also accepted an application from Intelsat for a 30-day special temporary authority to drift Intelsat 5 from 169 degrees east to 65.45 degrees east, “where it will operate in the C- and Ku-bands under new U.S. filings,” its application said (http://xrl.us/bnpgr2).
Regulation can impede FCC efforts to get more spectrum online for broadband, the Phoenix Center said in a report released Wednesday. The paper addresses whether placing conditions on spectrum licenses could make the pending spectrum crunch worse. “Imposing (and threatening to impose) significant conditions when firms seek to repurpose spectrum from a low-value to a higher-value use acts as a ’tax’ and thus reduces the incentives of firms to offer spectrum to, and acquire spectrum in, the secondary market,” the paper argues (http://xrl.us/bnpgm5). “As a result, ’taxation by condition’ will discourage the larger scale transactions necessary to resolve spectrum exhaust.” If the FCC wants to address spectrum exhaust, “’taxing’ efforts to repurpose spectrum to higher-valued uses like mobile data in the form of license conditions is perhaps the worst of all policies,” the paper said. “Instead, barring legitimate competitive or interference concerns, efforts to repurpose spectrum from low- to high-value uses should be expeditiously approved without extraneous conditions. Moreover, regardless of the Commission’s (or other’s) social goals (e.g., universal broadband), the costly and often implicit restrictions on trading spectrum rights is an enormously bad way to achieve those objectives.” The equation is simple, said Phoenix Center Chief Economist George Ford, co-author of the report. “If you want more of something, then you don’t tax it,” he said. “If the FCC wants more spectrum for mobile data, then the agency must avoid imposing hefty taxes in the form of conditions on private efforts to solve the spectrum crisis. A requirement to ‘pay the vig’ impedes the development of a secondary market for spectrum and influences the type of transactions we do see. It’s bad policy."
The House unanimously voted Tuesday to reauthorize the U.S. SAFE WEB Act (HR-6131) for another seven years. The 2006 bill, which was set to expire on Dec. 22, 2013, provides the FTC with legal authority and information sharing tools to combat international Internet scams, spyware and fraud targeted at U.S. citizens. “The ‘U.S. SAFE WEB Act’ is good for American consumers. It’s good for the future of e-commerce. And it sends an important signal to the rest of the world that online crooks -- no matter where they're located -- will be tracked down and prosecuted,” said Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., chair of the House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee, in a statement. Bono Mack, who introduced the bill with Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., said an estimated 20 percent of consumer complaints the FTC received in 2005 involved fraud originating outside of the U.S., with Americans suffering annual losses of nearly $220 million to foreign operators, during a July subcommittee hearing she chaired (CD July 13 p6).
Inmarsat said it had secured 100,000 confirmed orders from distributors for its global handheld satellite phone IsatPhone Pro. Introduced in 2010, IsatPhone Pro is Inmarsat’s first handheld satellite phone, Inmarsat said in a press release.
Former FCC Chief Economist Leslie Marx, now a professor at Duke University, said the FCC’s review of its spectrum screen should spark a needed discussion. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Friday circulated a notice of proposed rulemaking on the screen for a vote at the FCC’s Sept. 28 meeting. “The FCC plan to publicly review the screens in an open and transparent proceeding that allows for public input to help determine how spectrum screen levels may be applied to all industry participants is a step in the right direction,” Marx said on her blog (http://xrl.us/bnpgey). “It is also a very timely plan. The FCC is starting the process to implement the Congressional mandate to auction re-purposed broadcast spectrum. Clarity and stability about spectrum screens are a key ingredient for successful auctions. In addition, regulatory certainty, where industry participants know and understand the ‘rules of the road’ -- here the existence of the screen, its application, and the process for when/how it can/will be altered -- can be expected to have a positive impact on future wireless broadband infrastructure investment."