TIA President Grant Seiffert commended members of the House Homeland Security Committee for looking at public safety technology research and development, in a letter sent Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bm6ucc). On Wednesday the Emergency Communications and Cybersecurity subcommittees, in a joint hearing, heard testimony about the need to develop better communications technologies from witnesses representing the Department of Homeland Security (http://xrl.us/bm6ug7), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (http://xrl.us/bm6uhb), and the New York Fire Department (http://xrl.us/bm6uhf), among others. Seiffert told Emergency Communications Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., Ranking Member Laura Richardson, D-Calif., Cybersecurity Chairman Dan Lungren, R-Calif., and Ranking Member Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., that the government needs to continue to research the interoperability, security, survivability and encryption of first responder technologies “before there is significant resulting damage.”
NAB CEO Gordon Smith on Wednesday urged leaders of the federal spectrum working group to require a “comprehensive” spectrum inventory that looks at both the private and public sector use of spectrum. “Neither Congress nor the American people have a clear understanding of what spectrum is being used, by whom and for what purpose,” Smith wrote working group co-chairs Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif. (http://xrl.us/bm6t7j). “Reasoned policy decisions and thoughtful consideration of these matters simply cannot be honestly and earnestly debated without the facts.” Smith chided the “striking lack of objective information” about U.S. spectrum policy and said that prior congressional requests for a comprehensive spectrum inventory “have gone unanswered.” CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter shot back at the NAB letter for “denying the existence of a spectrum crunch,” in a statement Wednesday. “While the NAB is committed to its ‘deny and delay’ strategy, the mobile industry is working to deploy the most efficient technologies available, building new infrastructure at a record pace, and engage with policymakers -- including the members of the spectrum working group -- to identify and move to market spectrum."
Consumers Union criticized the proposed AWS deal between Verizon Wireless, SpectrumCo and Cox, saying it would diminish competition in the wireless, video and landline broadband markets. In a meeting last week with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at the group’s headquarters in Yonkers, N.Y., representatives discussed the commission’s recent efforts on bill shock, cramming, the stolen phone database and the importance of protecting consumers from predatory practices (http://xrl.us/bm6t7m). The nonprofit warned in a letter to Genachowski (http://xrl.us/bm6t7d) that data usage caps instituted by wireless and wireline companies will limit consumer choice and increase Internet access cost for consumers. It also backed the FCC’s decision to clear a backlog of pending applications for FM translators, which the group said will create more opportunities for low-power FM stations run by local community groups.
Eutelsat signed a distribution agreement between its Skylogic subsidiary and RG Networks, making satellite broadband available through Eutelsat’s high throughput satellite. With the KA-SAT satellite, broadband will be available for businesses and consumers across Hungary, Eutelsat said. The satellite has a capacity of more than 70 Gbps.
Several parties opposed a petition by Millicorp and SmartEdgeNet for a waiver that would give the VoIP providers direct access to numbering resources from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator and Pooling Administrator (CD Apr 25 p12). Joint comments filed by Bandwidth.com, Level 3 and Comptel argued the petitioners did not meet the legal standard for a waiver, failing to address issues relating to number exhaust, routing, intercarrier compensation or interconnection (http://xrl.us/bm6t25). Securus Technologies, which manages communications for use by correctional facilities, opposed Millicorp’s petition, arguing a grant of the waiver would harm the public interest (http://xrl.us/bm6t3f). Millicorp’s petition said it operates ConsCallHome.com, which lets inmates reduce the cost of calling friends and families. Securus characterized this as a “scheme” that re-routes calls from prisons to “unknown, untraceable terminating telephone numbers,” raising serious safety and security issues. The commission should not “aid in this scheme” by granting Millicorp a waiver of numbering rules, Securus said. The California Public Utilities Commission, however, generally supported the idea that since VoIP providers don’t depend on the legacy geographic basis for number assignment, “the CPUC sees the potential for allowing VoIP providers access to the NANP as an opportunity to not only eliminate a structure which makes number utilization inefficient, but also to lessen the impact of code assignment in areas where there are no likely end users for those codes” (http://xrl.us/bm6t3o).
Inmarsat Q1 sales rose 10 percent from the year-ago quarter, to $355 million. Wholesale maritime revenue rose 7 percent to $95.4 million and Inmarsat added more than 2,000 FleetBroadband terminals, it said. Maritime voice revenue fell 11 percent to $21.4 million, largely due “to the impact of voice price reductions implemented in the second quarter of 2011,” Inmarsat said. The company’s overall mobile satellite services revenue was little changed at $178 million, with lower revenue from Afghanistan “in connection with reduced military activity,” Inmarsat said.
Knology and WideOpenWest sought FCC permission for the first cable operator to be bought by the second, under Sec. 214 of the Communications Act. Their application with the International and Wireline bureaus noted Knology sells rural ILEC service in parts of Alabama, Georgia and South Dakota. “The proposed transaction will be transparent to Knology’s current customers,” said the application posted Tuesday in docket 12-120 (http://xrl.us/bm6tzb). “All existing customers of Knology will continue to be served by Knology pursuant to the existing international and domestic Section 214 authorizations held by the Knology and/or the Knology Companies.” WOW is paying about $1.5 billion for Knology (CD April 19 p21).
Comcast wants FCC deregulation of rates in seven franchise areas in California. There’s sufficient video competition because rivals have at least 15 percent pay-TV market share, serve most of Chico, Oroville, Paradise and the other communities and/or Comcast has low subscribership, the cable operator said in an effective competition petition. It was posted Tuesday to docket 12-1 (http://xrl.us/bm6tx8).
LightSquared representatives urged the FCC to “provide adequate time to explore a full range of solutions” to the interference issue and other concerns raised by the GPS community around the company’s effort to build a terrestrial network. They met with Charles Mathias, aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, LightSquared said in an ex parte filing in docket 11-109 (http://xrl.us/bm6tx2). The satellite wholesale company also urged the commission to consider “identifying possible alternative spectrum bands for LightSquared’s terrestrial operations.” The agency has proposed to yank the company’s ancillary terrestrial component authority after earlier waiving some rules so it could sell terrestrial services in the L-band.
The House Communications Subcommittee plans a hearing on broadband loans and grants at 10 a.m. May 16 in Rayburn room 2123. Witnesses for the hearing have not been announced.