May 2009

UK may cap spectrum ownership for mobile telcos

Britain unveiled plans to cap ownership of the digital radio spectrum among mobile phone companies, aiming to settle a long-running dispute and fulfill the government's target of providing universal broadband. The government is trying to give all five mobile operators a fair chance to further roll out broadband under its plans for a "Digital Britain" future. The country's five main operators have been in dispute since the telecoms regulator Ofcom said in 2007 it could take radio spectrum away from the top two operators O2, owned by Telefonica, and Vodafone. Ofcom said at the time the 900 Megahertz spectrum could then be auctioned off to the three remaining operators -- Orange, T-Mobile and 3 -- which could lead to billions of pounds in network rollout savings.

$1B In Political Spending Possible in 2009

A rise in issue advertising, the so-called "permanent presidential campaign" and early primary elections could combine to drive 2009 political advertising to "well over $1 billion this year," according to Evan Tracey, founder and president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group. Commenting following an address he made to the Media Financial Management Association's convention in Atlanta, Tracey warned it's too early for solid predictions, given how much is still up in the air, and said that $1 billion is the high end of a wide range that could go as low as $400 million to $700 million. Even that lower amount would be a record for an off political year, however, as Tracey pointed out in his address. One reason is an increase in advocacy advertising, which "is headed for a record year this year," he said.

House Judiciary Passes Royalty Bill

After nearly four hours of debate, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill, 21-9, that would end a long-standing copyright royalty exemption for AM and FM radio stations, with significant concessions aimed at protecting small and minority-owned broadcasters. The action was a big win for the Recording Industry Association of America, American Federation of Musicians, the Recording Academy and others who have been pressing lawmakers to force terrestrial radio to pay performers for songs carried on their airwaves. It was a blow to the National Association of Broadcasters, which has lobbied fiercely against the bill they believe to be a "tax" on local radio.

AT&T Responds To Eshoo Web Query

AT&T Chief Privacy Officer Dorothy Attwood responded Wednesday to a recent letter from Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) to the telecom giant's CEO asking for clarification on whether the company is engaged in any activity that involves tracking its broadband Internet subscribers' online activities to target advertising. The lawmaker was confused by Attwood's testimony at an April hearing of the House Commerce Committee's Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee that focused on "deep packet inspection," a controversial type of network filtering that could be used to build customer profiles and offer specialized content and advertising without consent. Attwood assured Eshoo that AT&T does not engage in behavioral advertising that was the focus of her inquiry and said the company "has articulated at every turn what it does and does not do in the context of any behavioral advertising model that has been the subject of congressional interest."

Traditional War Strategy In The Cyber Age

As U.S. military and government officials consider the best approach to fighting cyber threats, they are considering the relevance of historic approaches to national security dangers such as nuclear weapons and terrorism. Herbert Lin, chief scientist at the National Research Council's computer science and telecommunications board, said a range of topics are currently being weighed such as "strategy, escalation, and deterrence, as well as issues related to doctrine and employment policy for cyber weapons." Doctrine and employment policy refer to how the military plans to operate during a conflict and strategy refers to thinking beyond immediate engagement to develop a roadmap for how to win, he said. Deterrence involves persuading a bad guy to not attack and escalation refers to how to keep a war from getting out of hand, he said.

Did the FCC cook the books on broadband over power lines?

The other shoe has finally dropped on that court decision which forced the Federal Communications Commission to delay its green light to Broadband over Power Line technology (BPL). The American Radio Relay League (ARRL), which successfully sued the FCC over its go-ahead, has obtained and published a small pile of nonredacted versions of studies that the Commission claimed supported its pro-BPL position. The nonredacted documents, ARRL charges, offer a different assessment of the technology.

Analyst: cyberwarfare arms race with China imminent

A congressional commission that reviews economic and security relations between the United States and China held a hearing last month on Chinese intelligence activities that impact national security. During this hearing, security expert Kevin G. Coleman of the Technolytics Institute think tank gave a presentation on Chinese cyber-espionage efforts. He warned that the United States is falling behind in technological defense capabilities and is largely unprepared for what he characterizes as the start of a cyber-warfare arms race. Coleman attempts to describe the threat posed by China's cybersecurity build-up, but how much of it is a sham? Some of his facts are misleading.

Lake: 3.5 Million Still Not Ready For DTV Switch

Federal Communications Commission digital television transition coordinator William Lake warned that 3.5 million people had still not taken the actions necessary to avoid losing access to their TV signal, saying many of those were in the most vulnerable populations, including the elderly, low income, disabled minority and rural areas. Conveying a sense of urgency, Lake told the commissioners that the key was doing everything possible so that those viewers did not lose their, "only link, in some cases, to news and the world at large." That message came in a DTV status report during the commission's public meeting Wednesday. FCC staffers and NTIA DTV coupon box program coordinator Bernie McGuire-Rivera outlined the steps the FCC and NTIA are taking to convey that urgency and help those populations get ready.

Genachowski Still Watching His Wait

The workload continues to pile up at the Federal Communications Commission while President Obama's nominee to head the Commission waits on the sidelines. Julius Genachowski, the constitutional scholar and telecom policy adviser to the Obama administration who has been the presumptive new chairman of the FCC for five months—long enough to have "presumptive" business cards made up. But he remains in limbo while the FCC faces one of its most daunting tasks: the creation of a nationwide broadband deployment plan, and the data collection necessary for its foundation. Then there is that DTV transition thing, which the FCC must oversee both now and after the big switch June 12. Of all the things the Obama administration managed to get done in its first 100 days, getting a new FCC chairman closer to confirmation than a nomination holding pattern was not one of them.

Eshoo Introduces Broadband Conduit Deployment Act

Rep Anna Eshoo has introduced the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act, which would require new federal highway projects to include broadband conduits for fiber optic communications. That will be increasingly important as the Federal Communications Commission comes up with a nationwide broadband rollout plan at the behest of Congress, and the government hands out over $7 billion to help get broadband service to unserved and underserved areas. Eshoo said in announcing the bill that over half the cost of laying broadband pipe is digging up and repaving roads. This way, the pipe will already be there when the communications provider is ready to install the fiber. A White House official this week pointed out that there remained a rural and economic divide, and that some 20 million people still did not have access to broadband in their homes. The Department of Transportation could waive the requirement where necessary, and would have to work with the FCC to try to calculate potential demand. Rep Eshoo called it a "simple, common sense proposal," a sentiment that appeared to be shared by the leading Democrats overseeing communications. Bill backers include House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA), and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA).

Benton

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