Sending a single confirmatory opt-out text message doesn’t violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act or Section 64.1200 of FCC rules, SoundBite executives told advisers to commissioners Ajit Pai, Mignon Clyburn and Robert McDowell Wednesday about the company’s petition for declaratory ruling (http://xrl.us/bm899h). A SoundBite board member also met with Chairman Julius Genachowski on Monday in Boston, where the chairman was at the Cable Show, to discuss the petition. There’s “widespread agreement” throughout the industry and consumer groups that a “receipt” for opt-out confirmation is a “good consumer practice,” SoundBite said. Such confirmation texts are required by the Mobile Marketing Association as part of its guidelines on consumer best practices, it said. Complaints and litigation “surrounding the narrow issue of single confirmatory text messages” are costing the industry millions of dollars in legal fees and “potentially billions” in settlements and adverse rulings, SoundBite said, urging the commission to act expeditiously.
Al Jazeera will use two Eutelsat satellites to broadcast two new channels for the French market. The beIN Sport network will use the satellites at 13 degrees east and 5 degrees west to broadcast beIN Sport 1 and beIN Sport 2, Eutelsat said. BeIN Sport 1 will start June 1 and beIN Sport 2 will follow this summer, it said.
Broadcasting, cable and satellite TV operators in Bangladesh urged the Bangladeshi government to take action against interference of TV services. The interference “is being caused by wireless broadband operators using newly introduced WiMax technology,” the Global VSAT Forum said. It said the operators and industry groups are concerned that wireless bandwidth used to distribute TV services in the 3.5 GHz range “could close down hundreds of TV channels across the country.” The WiMAX services should use less crowded frequencies, the forum said.
The FCC’s proposed new cramming rules to help consumers prevent and detect unauthorized charges on their phone bills were published in the Federal Register Thursday (http://xrl.us/bm8936). The further notice asks whether additional measures should be taken to prevent wireline cramming, and whether cramming rules should apply to wireless and VoIP services. Comments are due June 25 in docket 11-116, replies July 9.
Warren Communications News publications won two journalism awards in this year’s competition sponsored by the Specialized Information Publishers Association (formerly the Newsletter Association). Rebecca Day, senior editor of Consumer Electronics Daily, won first place in the scientific and technical reporting category for her story on neodymium exports from China. Jonathan Make, assistant managing editor of Communications Daily, won third place in the Dave Swit Award for Outstanding Investigative Reporting for his story on lobbying of FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker’s office (CD May 18/11 p1).
Two more public service commissions have requested waivers of the June 1 deadline for compliance with several rules passed in the Lifeline order. The Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia wants a 10-month extension, it told the FCC in a petition Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bm89wa). An extension to April 1, 2013, would help lift “heavy administrative burdens” on the District Department of the Environment, which certifies D.C. customers for Lifeline service, the PSC said. Notice of Lifeline service eligibility will already be provided to the eligible telecom carrier through compliance with two other commission rules, it said. The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada also requested a waiver of the June 1 deadline, saying it will be unable to modify its current regulations in time (http://xrl.us/bm89wz). The “fundamental conflict” between Nevada’s laws and the FCC’s new regulations is that the state’s law requires an ETC to automatically enroll its existing customers to receive Lifeline services if they are on the list of eligible customers provided by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services twice a year, the PUC said. “Given that the controlling statute at issue in Nevada essentially requires Nevada ETCs to automatically enroll customers based upon a list from another state agency, this statute does not comport with the FCC’s new regulations,” which require prospective subscribers to certify to the DHHS that they meet income-eligibility standards, it said. Nevada requested an 18-month extension, to Jan. 1, 2014, to give an opportunity for the Legislature to update its laws.
Verizon executives detailed their expected calculation of eligible recovery under the FCC’s intercarrier compensation reform rules, in a meeting Monday with Wireline Bureau officials, an ex parte notice said (http://xrl.us/bm89v4). Steps include identifying the total amount that Verizon’s ILECs billed for switched access and reciprocal compensation during the fiscal year, identifying the amount customers paid for switched access and reciprocal compensation, adjusting both the billed and paid amounts to exclude non-service related charges and adjusting the paid amount to exclude payments for bills issued before the fiscal year. Verizon said it will use the resulting figures to calculate the demand quantities it will use to determine eligible recovery.
The FCC is slated to tackle the topic of the underutilized 4.9 GHz band in a report and order and further rulemaking slated for a vote at the commission’s June 13 meeting. The band was dedicated to public safety in 2002, before public safety got 700 MHz spectrum. Also on the agenda, an order on equipment authorization rules, increasing the supply of codes assigned to parties applying for equipment certification. The FCC announced the tentative agenda for the meeting Wednesday.
U.S. carriers face much bigger challenges building out wireless networks compared to many of their international counterparts, said a report by Mobile Future and Analysys Mason. “The comparatively large size of the population of the United States (over 300 million) and its extensive land area (over 3.5 million square miles) pose significant challenges to the deployment of network infrastructure for mobile services across the country,” the report said (http://xrl.us/bm87eo). “However, in spite of the high investment costs required to cover the large areas of low population density, the United States has been consistently ahead of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK in terms of population coverage by mobile networks, since approximately 2008.” The most-sparsely-distributed 1 percent of the U.S. population lies within 1.88 million square miles of the nation’s land mass, an area “more than twice the size of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom,” the report said. “Despite the unique challenges to deploying wireless broadband to the most rural areas of our country, the United States is consistently a leader in deploying mobile coverage to a population spread over millions of miles,” said Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter. “The expanded U.S. mobile network coverage is a testament to massive network provider investment and the intense competition that fosters coverage from multiple network providers."
ISPs charging subscribers for how much data they use can benefit consumers, while doing away with usage-based pricing -- as some critics of the practice seek -- could hurt customers, an economist whose nonprofit often opposes regulation said Wednesday. “Usage-based pricing is increasingly common for broadband services,” Phoenix Center Chief Economist George Ford said (http://xrl.us/bm87io). A “simple numerical example” shows “such pricing behavior can make consumers and society better off,” he wrote. “The fact that firms use differential pricing, even lacking any cost reason to do so, does not imply a neutrality rule is an improvement. This conclusion, when combined with the existence of differences in costs of service and a workably competitive landscape for video content delivery, suggests regulatory oversight of usage-based pricing is unlikely to improve social well-being."