Verizon faced the prospect of hundreds of protests Friday as the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Jobs with Justice and other groups sought to demand what they call “fair” conduct from two members of Verizon’s board of directors: Darden Restaurants CEO Clarence Otis and Banco Popular CEO Richard Carrión. CWA alleges Darden restaurant workers are “not fully compensated for their work and others have been subjected to racial discrimination” and that Banco Popular “owes taxpayers more than $900 million in TARP bailout money -- more than any other bank in the United States except one,” all while both companies’ CEOs receive money from Verizon. The rally leaders want Verizon to resolve contracts with its workers as the company demands “cuts in compensation from workers of at least $10,000 a year,” CWA said, and it wants these CEOs to “take responsibility” for its role in the Verizon contract dispute. CWA planned protests in nearly 300 locations, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Boston, Washington, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, where workers will be “engaging in street theater and leafleting customers and managers of Darden restaurants, Banco Popular branches and Verizon Wireless stores.” “This is more of the same and nothing new,” said Verizon spokesman Rich Young. “Union rallies do nothing to advance bargaining. We believe the only way progress can be made is for both sides to engage in meaningful contract talks at the bargaining table. We are always ready and willing to engage. Union leadership needs to do the same."
Another telco has requested commission-level review of the FCC Wireline Bureau’s Regression Order adopting a quantile regression model to set benchmarks for high-cost loop support. Blue Valley Tele-Communications, a Kansas ILEC in “Tornado Alley” with fewer than 4,000 subscribers, filed the application for review Friday, arguing the regression model is “fatally flawed because it relies on inaccurate data,” and will not achieve the FCC’s stated objectives of creating “structural incentives for rate-of-return companies to operate more efficiently and make prudent expenditures” (http://xrl.us/bncmy4).
Charter Communications asked the FCC for six-month waivers of new emergency alert system (EAS) rules for 32 of its “smallest, most remote cable headends” because they lack the broadband necessary to “reliably” receive alerts formatted in common alerting protocol (CAP). It said (http://xrl.us/bncmyd) it started buying new equipment last year, having “invested hundreds of thousands of dollars toward CAP-compliant hardware and software upgrades,” which will give access to CAP-compliant alerts to over 99 percent of its subscribers by the June 30 deadline. Several cable companies have filed waiver requests for similar systems in docket 04-296 this month as the deadline approaches (CD June 22 p15).
Changes to the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) can only abide by existing ITU provisions to spur the public right to communicate through international public networks, said Hamadoun Toure, the ITU secretary-general, following the final three-day meeting of the Council working group on preparations for the World Conference on International Telecommunication in December. He said he wanted to set the record straight on some issues that have emerged publicly about the preparations. All countries impose some restrictions, he said, for example, to protect copyright owners or to protect from defamation. Some countries go further, he said referring to restrictions on pornography, gambling, hate speech, negation of genocide, and even certain types of political speech. An ITU provision allows countries to cut off private telecommunications that “may appear dangerous to the security of the state or contrary to its laws,” public order or decency, he said. The ITRs can’t contradict that provision either, he said. The suggestion that there is a conflict “or war” between telecom and the Internet “is plainly ridiculous,” Toure said. “Who today can tell me the difference, in terms of traffic packing across networks, between voice, video and data?” he asked. The “real question” is how best to cooperate to ensure the free flow of information, the continued development of broadband, the continued investment in networks, services and applications, he said.
Former GOP Rep. Susan Molinari, now head of Google’s Washington office, discussed “Google’s interest in unlicensed spectrum and mobile applications on the Internet” in a June 6 meeting with FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, according to an ex parte filing made Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bncmo6). Asked about the date of the filing, two weeks after the meeting, thus technically late, a Google spokeswoman said: “It was an introductory meeting and probably didn’t need to be filed, but we wanted to be transparent."
Verizon Wireless released an update to the Droid Razr and Droid Razr Maxx by Motorola, making the cellphones globally ready in more than 220 countries for customers subscribed to an international plan, Verizon said in a blog post (http://xrl.us/bncmmf). The update also upgrades the phones to the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system which includes face unlock, direct access lock screen, video chat, and improved voice input technology, Verizon said.
Electronic billing produces more wireless customer satisfaction than paper billing, a BIGinsight study commissioned by Sprint said (http://xrl.us/bncmke). The study reflects Sprint’s efforts to incorporate green business practices, Sprint said. The study was done online between April 13 and 17 and involved more than 950 interviews with post-paid wireless customers with a 3 to 6 percentage point margin of error, Sprint said.
Genevieve Morelli, president of the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, has requested a hearing on the proposed spectrum transactions between Verizon Wireless and Bright House Communications, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox. The request came in a letter to Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich, and Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., members of the House Commerce Committee. The FCC and Department of Justice are reviewing the proposed transactions, but have not met the proper standards of transparency during the review, Morelli said. The FCC’s approval of the transaction without the proper transparency could intrude upon the committee’s jurisdiction over the telecommunications laws and marketplace, Morelli said.
Comcast again asked the Media Bureau to affirm that Bloomberg TV cannot impose HD and standard definition news neighborhooding obligations on the cable operator (http://xrl.us/bnck72). “Bloomberg, by claiming that Comcast has a separate and duplicative neighborhooding obligation as to both its SD and HD feeds is clearly seeking to gain a competitive advantage for Bloomberg TV (BTV) as compared to non-independent news networks,” Comcast wrote Bureau Chief Bill Lake. “The Commission did not adopt the Condition in order to give BTV that type of advantage, and the Bureau did not adopt the condition allow to exploit it to its competitive benefit.” If the bureau disagrees, it should stay its finding pending commission action on Comcast’s pending application for review of the bureau’s carriage order, the operator said.
Industry arguments that the FCC must consider a device’s primary purpose before applying advanced communication services accessibility rules are specious and frivolous, the American Council of the Blind said in comments responding to waiver requests from CEA and Entertainment Software Association (http://xrl.us/bnck3d). “A device or software manufacturer determines the features of a particular product based on marketability and competition,” the ACB said. “This fact not only implies that the manufacturer must consider a feature’s impact prior to implementing it, but it also implies that competition plays a significant role in determining the features of a particular device or software.” Features are developed and implemented based on consumer demand, ACB said. “To argue that a feature is either incidental or subordinate clearly belies the fact that it exists because a user finds it to be important.” The group asked the commission to put the argument to rest “for once and for all."