The Supreme Court of Canada will let a C$19 billion ($18.4 billion) class-action lawsuit proceed against major carriers there, challenging “system access fees” charged by the companies. The suit, first brought in 2004 in Saskatchewan’s Court of Queen’s Bench, charges that BCE, Rogers Communications, Telus and Bell Aliant misrepresented the fees, which usually run $6.95 per month. Those companies did not respond by our deadline to requests for comment.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu Thursday released a cybersecurity self-evaluation survey tool for utilities that the Department of Energy said would “strengthen protection of the nation’s electric grid from cybersecurity threats.” The tool is part of a wider White House initiative to develop a “Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model for the electricity sector, which aims to support the private sector and utilities nationwide in determining their current cybersecurity resources and identifying additional steps to help strengthen their defenses,” a press release said (http://xrl.us/bnc75q). “The new Cybersecurity Self-Evaluation Survey Tool for utilities is vitally important in today’s environment where new cyber threats continue to emerge,” said Chu. “Adoption by the electric sector will further protect critical infrastructure and, at the same time, provide an invaluable view of the industry’s cybersecurity capabilities."
Free Press asked Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to hit the road, same as the nonprofit that opposes media consolidation also asked the FCC’s other new member to travel outside Washington (CD June 5 p13). The group said its officials asked Rosenworcel to go to public hearings outside the beltway on a media ownership rulemaking notice’s proposals, “following the good example for commissioner engagement set during the previous quadrennial review.” Changing the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban “would not only reduce the number of independent journalistic voices in a market, but also decrease the amount of news produced market-wide,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 09-182 (http://xrl.us/bnc74n). It said last year’s order setting up the Connect America Fund has Free Press “alarmed about the prospect of increased burdens on telephone ratepayers in exchange for an altogether uncertain promise of lower wireless prices."
Philipp Humm resigned as CEO of T-Mobile USA, parent company Deutsche Telekom said. He'll be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Jim Alling, while a search for a successor gets underway. Humm, who worked for DT, evaluated T-Mobile USA soon after he took over as CEO, before recommending that DT sell off the asset, industry officials said at the time. That led to AT&T’s failed buy of T-Mobile. Humm joined DT in 2005. He’s “going to pursue a career outside of Deutsche Telekom so as to reunite with his family, which stayed back in Europe,” the company said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bnc4xe). Alling said in a letter to T-Mobile employees the initiatives launched under Humm will continue (http://xrl.us/bnc8dq). “While we may be in a high-tech industry, I firmly believe T-Mobile is a people-based business,” Alling wrote. “I have the utmost confidence in everyone at T-Mobile to not only deliver for our customers, but to support each other as we continue to build momentum around our strategy.”
MPowa, a mobile payment app, will be available in the United States, mPowa founder Dan Wagner said. The free app processes transactions from card, cash, and checks; and card transactions include a 0.25 percent processing fee, he said. Cards can be swiped on the reader which also accepts chip and PIN devices, he said. MPowa serves businesses with previous banking arrangements for card payments as well as small and medium-sized businesses that did not previously have mobile payment capabilities.
State governors asserted their role in developing FirstNet on Thursday as the National Governors Association (NGA) hosted a forum and released a white paper (http://xrl.us/bnc7tw). Governors will “play a vital role in the success of the nationwide network” for the public safety, to be built using 700 MHz spectrum, said Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) in prepared remarks. The NGA also released a list of steps (http://xrl.us/bnc7ug) states can take to prepare for the first responder network, such as assembling a multidisciplinary advisory group on broadband and building partnerships with local governments and key associations. The NGA said “teams from nearly 50 states and territories were in attendance.” “FirstNet must consult with state, local, regional, and tribal jurisdictions regarding a range of activities including construction or access to the core network and any radio access network (RAN), placement of towers, assignment of priority to local users, and training,” the paper said. “The sooner states begin their preparation, the better situated they will be when FirstNet issues network requirements. The more knowledgeable states are of their own needs, the better they can inform FirstNet as it designs the network.”
From the start of the Rural Health Care Pilot Program through the end of January, Universal Service Administrative Co. issued funding commitments for 2,107 healthcare providers participating in the program, USAC told the FCC Wednesday after a staff request for data (http://xrl.us/bnc7qv). Of those healthcare providers, 733 were located in urban areas and 1,374 in rural areas. Urban sites make up 34.8 percent of all pilot program participants that received funding commitments as of Jan. 31, USAC said.
Allband asked the commission to stay implementation of the $3,000 per line annual funding cap adopted in the USF/intercarrier compensation order (http://xrl.us/bnc7pq). In a petition filed Wednesday, Allband asked for the permanent stay “so as to align its USF-committed revenues needed to pay” its Rural Utilities Service loans, and “to prevent a default of such loans, and to also prevent an impending close-down of Allband’s telephone and broadband network” that operates as an ILEC in areas of Michigan that previously “never had communications services by any carrier.” The stay would be in addition to the relief Allband sought in its February petition for waiver of the $250 per month high-cost universal service support cap, and a waiver of the framework to limit reimbursable capital and operating costs (CD Feb 15 p17).
The FCC should grant CenturyLink’s petition seeking authority to use Connect America Fund Phase I incremental support to deploy broadband to areas that, according to the National Broadband Map, are served by wireless ISPs, but that, “based on CenturyLink’s data, the Wireless Internet Service Providers cannot fully serve,” the telco told Wireline Bureau officials Monday (http://xrl.us/bnc7pm). Granting the waiver will help “achieve the basic objectives” of the CAF Phase I incremental support program, CenturyLink said.
Giving Vonage direct access to telephone numbers would “serve the public interest and advance key Commission policy goals,” Vonage told the FCC Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnc7o7). It would help foster innovation and speed the delivery of advanced services to consumers; remove a significant barrier to IP interconnection; facilitate the transition to bill and keep arrangements for intercarrier compensation; and allow Vonage to build additional redundancy into its network, the voice service said. It will also improve the states’ ability to monitor and manage number use, Vonage said. Vonage emphasized that it has agreed to several conditions, including a 65 percent overall number utilization rate, and has agreed to comply with FCC numbering rules and numbering authority delegated to the states. Direct access to numbers will also “remove obstacles to rural call completion,” Vonage said, arguing direct access will “reduce the number of hand-offs involved in a Vonage call, thereby improving call quality, reducing delay, and eliminating opportunities for routing errors."