California’s VoIP deregulation bill, SB-1161, will remain in the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee until Aug. 8, said the committee office. The Appropriations Committee was scheduled to address the bill this Wednesday, but the hearing was cancelled and all legislation has been pushed to after the Assembly’s July recess. The bill received Senate approval on May 30 and was voted out of the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce June 18. It has attracted both support and consumer outcry in recent weeks (CD June 25 p6).
Nextivity, T-Mobile, V-COMM, Verizon Wireless and Wilson Electronics submitted to the FCC proposed rules for cell power boosters and two separate consumer booster protection standards. The proposals build on previous submissions from Verizon Wireless and Wilson, a booster maker. “Over the last several weeks, the signatories to this letter have worked cooperatively to make changes to these protection standards so that each of the signatories is comfortable that consumer boosters that meet these standards, if operating properly and in accordance with all of the requirements of the protection standards, will not cause harmful interference to either the serving carrier or adjacent carrier networks,” said the letter (http://xrl.us/bnc4dw). “The signatories therefore urge the Commission to adopt these protection standards and require that consumer boosters manufactured, marketed, sold, leased or operated in the future meet one of these protection standards.” That “T-Mobile has joined Verizon Wireless in urging the FCC to adopt technical standards for signal boosters is very significant,” said communications lawyer Russell Lukas of Lukas Nace, Wilson’s legal counsel for regulatory issues. “This marks the first time big-four wireless carriers that operate CDMA and GSM networks have acknowledged signal boosters can be deployed without harming their networks. That should make it easier for the FCC to adopt consumer signal booster rules."
It’s time to stop talking about regulating online gambling and do something, Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said Wednesday at a Brussels European Parliament conference on how to regulate betting and gambling. Lawmakers have called for specific measures at the EU level that respect the principle of subsidiarity, he said. That principle holds that the EU won’t take action except in areas that fall within its exclusive jurisdiction unless it’s more effective than action taken at the national, regional or local level, according to an EU glossary. The EU should help members regulate online gambling effectively, in line with their own national traditions but also in compliance with the EU Treaty, he said. There’s added value in having EU law protect citizens while respecting subsidiarity, he said. That value can take different forms, he said: (1) More effective clampdowns on the many illegal websites, often hosted in offshore havens. (2) Development, where allowed, of legal alternatives that are attractive enough to undermine clandestine offerings. (3) Support measures to prevent “undesirable drift” that could arise from uncontrolled development of online betting and gambling. Barnier said he'll propose in the fall a plan of action to regulate and supervise online gambling. While it’s too soon to lay out the details, there will be three main elements, he said. There must be a set of basic guarantees applicable across Europe, he said. Minors must be protected, through technical solutions and awareness-raising, but also by industry shouldering its responsibilities, he said. There should also be clear advertising rules on gambling sites that bar minors and warn against the financial, social and health risks associated with excessive betting and gambling, he said. Although studies have yet to draw firm conclusions about the scale and seriousness of gambling addiction, he said, the EC is talking to experts to develop common definitions for evaluating the nature and scale of risks. But there must also be an anti-addiction policy based on reality, he said. The second key element of EC action will be to provide more clarity in the application of money-laundering rules to betting and gambling, he said. The third element will seek to ensure effective cooperation between national regulators, online operators and sports federations to prevent match-fixing, he said. The EC statement will detail an action plan that involves all EU governments and develops administrative cooperation, he said. Barnier will propose the creation of an experts’ group of representatives from EU countries to help prepare and evaluate initiatives, he said. The action plan will also encourage the development of attractive, legal services, he said. Finally, Barnier said, it’s essential that European rules be respected. Parliament has urged the EC to continue to investigate situations of noncompliance with the Treaty or case law of the European Court of Justice, he said. The EC will contact the affected governments and suggest they rectify the problems, he said, but if they don’t, “I will not hesitate to propose to my colleagues that the appropriate proceedings be taken or relaunched."
The “abrupt” change in WRKS(FM) New York’s format from adult urban to sports in recent weeks when Disney took over programming “speaks to a much larger crisis plaguing black radio and the radio industry,” several groups that oppose media consolidation wrote FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “We call on the FCC to study the state of black radio ownership and programming diversity, and to adopt rules that finally address our nation’s media inequality.” Black radio’s been “devastated by media consolidation,” wrote Free Press, Future of Media Coalition, Industry Ears, Prometheus Radio Project and others in docket 09-182 (http://xrl.us/bnc3t2). “We call on the FCC to investigate whether payola continues to play a major role in determining what airs on these outlets.” Disney had no comment.
Cox Enterprises wants the FCC to fully repeal the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule, as the NBCO rule is “more than 37 years old” and “the modern media market has fundamentally changed,” an executive of the owner of daily newspapers and radio and TV stations told Chief Bill Lake and others in the Media Bureau. “The unprecedented economic challenges facing newspapers and broadcast stations present a solid justification for the Commission to provide local media properties with the flexibility to compete with new competition from multichannel entertainment providers and the Internet,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 09-182 (http://xrl.us/bnc3sx). “Even if the Commission is not prepared to repeal the NBCO Rule, changed circumstances justify liberalizing the rule to reflect local media market conditions that exist today. ... Permitting radio/newspaper combinations could lead to improved local news."
Comcast sought an FCC exemption from video rate regulation in six Pennsylvania local franchise areas, citing DBS competition in Harrisburg and the other LFAs. The cable operator’s Media Bureau petition for effective competition is in docket 12-1 (http://xrl.us/bnc3r2), as is a petition for 22 New Jersey LFAs including Linden, Livingston, Scotch Plains and West Orange that also cited satellite competition (http://xrl.us/bnc3r4).
Standard & Poor’s maintained its B+ corporate credit rating on SBA, following the company’s announcement it’s acquiring TowerCo for $1.45 billion in cash and stock (CD June 27 p8). “SBA’s acquisition of TowerCo’s wireless towers will result in higher leverage than we had previously expected, but” the “combined company’s solid cash flow generation will enable leverage to decline in 2013 to a level we consider appropriate for the rating,” S&P said.
The National Emergency Number Association views the transition to next-generation 911 as a critical next step for public safety, said new NENA President Barbara Jaeger. “At NENA, we must do whatever we can to educate policy makers and legislators on the importance of NG911 and the national commitment that will be required to build and maintain these networks,” said Jaeger, also Arizona’s 911 administrator. “Our job is to make sure both Congress and the President … are committed to funding and deploying NG911,” she said. “We will work with our nation’s leaders to achieve what is in the best interest of all Americans -- especially the nearly 1 million people that reach out to 911 every day."
ITU Telecom World 2011 resulted in a net loss of about 2.4 million Swiss francs ($2.6 million), in part because several companies withdrew their participation at the last minute because they lacked resources, and since ticket sales for a related event were lower than expected, a report to a July meeting of the ITU Council meeting said. The Canton of Geneva financed the participation of least-developed countries, a related forum, interpretation and gear, and events to welcome heads of state, it said. Telecom World 2009, the most recent show before last year’s, cleared about 4.4 million Swiss francs, it said.
The Wireless Bureau Tuesday sought public comment on Verizon Wireless’s proposed AWS license deal with T-Mobile, the day after it was unveiled (CD June 26 p1). Comments are due July 10 (http://xrl.us/bncyre). Since Verizon’s buy of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox is directly tied to that deal, the bureau also halted for 14 days the informal 180-day shot clock for considering those proposed transactions. The clock is to restart July 10, “which will be Day 138,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bncyrt).