April 2010

Think Again: The Internet

[Commentary] In the days when the Internet was young, our hopes were high. As with any budding love affair, we wanted to believe our newfound object of fascination could change the world. The Internet was lauded as the ultimate tool to foster tolerance, destroy nationalism, and transform the planet into one great wired global village. Well, the Internet as we know it has now been around for two decades, and it has certainly been transformative. The amount of goods and services available online is staggering. Communicating across borders is simpler than ever: Hefty international phone bills have been replaced by inexpensive subscriptions to Skype, while Google Translate helps readers navigate Web pages in Spanish, Mandarin, Maltese, and more than 40 other languages. But just as earlier generations were disappointed to see that neither the telegraph nor the radio delivered on the world-changing promises made by their most ardent cheerleaders, we haven't seen an Internet-powered rise in global peace, love, and liberty.

Orbital Sciences buys spacecraft facility from General Dynamics

Orbital Sciences is positioning itself as a major player in the medium-class satellite market with its purchase of a General Dynamics-owned spacecraft development and manufacturing facility earlier this month. Analysts say the latest purchase readies the company to take on larger projects, particularly as the government looks to less-expensive, smaller satellite systems. The move comes during an unsettled time for NASA and the space industry following President Obama's decision to end much of the Constellation program -- a human space exploration effort -- as well as his plans to pursue a "transformative agenda" for the agency. Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said the addition of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems' Gilbert (AZ)spacecraft development and manufacturing business not only adds 325 employees -- many with coveted security clearances -- but also provides the company with a state-of-the-art facility. Orbital paid $55 million in cash for the unit, which it expects will contribute an equal level of revenue by the end of the year. The business was originally founded as Spectrum Astro, and General Dynamics purchased it in 2004.

FCC Establishes Emergency Response Interoperability Center

On April 23, the Federal Communications Commission established its new Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC) under the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB). ERIC's primary mission is to lead the development of a technical and operational framework that will support and foster nationwide operability and interoperability in wireless broadband communications for America's first responders. One of the priorities for the FCC in opening this new center will be to establish a broadly representative Public Safety Advisory Board to serve in a central advisory role to the ERIC. In addition to public safety input, ERIC will work closely with industry, commercial providers, manufacturers and standards setting groups to ensure interoperability and operability on the new network. As broadband standards and technology evolve, the ERIC will adopt and implement:

Technical requirements and procedures for ensuring a nationwide level of interoperability;
Mechanisms to address operability, roaming, priority access, gateway functions and interfaces, and interconnectivity of public safety broadband wireless networks; and
Authentication and encryption requirements for common public safety broadband applications and network usage.

To better ensure a comprehensive and coordinated federal effort in the area of public safety broadband communications, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be instrumental in the functions of the ERIC. This collaboration will assist with ensuring that interoperability exists from the outset in the construction and operation of the public safety nationwide wireless broadband network in the 700 MHz band.
DHS will participate in the areas of public safety outreach and technical assistance, as well as best practices development. NIST will participate in the areas of standards development, verification, testing and validation. ERIC will report to PSHSB Deputy Bureau Chief Jennifer A. Manner, who will serve as Interim Director. PSHSB will immediately seek a Director with experience with public safety.

The ERIC will be staffed by:

Behzad Ghaffari, Chief Systems Engineer - Mr. Ghaffari has been involved in a variety of engineering tasks supporting a wide range of policy work at the FCC. Over the years, he has provided the FCC with exceptional technological and analytical expertise in the areas of networking, broadband, and public safety. His experience also includes over 10 years of technical leadership positions with telecommunications industry. Prior to joining the FCC, Mr. Ghaffari's served as Director of Engineering for Network Access Solutions.
Pat Amodio, Chief Radio Frequency Engineer - Mr. Amodio has 31 years of experience in the design, deployment and operational management of various radio frequency systems. His experience includes all aspects of commercial wireless and land mobile network design and deployment. Mr. Amodio earned a patent for a wireless security system including a test feature for locating emergency radio frequency transmissions and is a Senior Member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He previously served as a Senior Engineer at the Joint Spectrum Center, U.S. Department of Defense.
Ziad Sleem, Liaison to ERIC for the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) -Mr. Sleem has 27 years of experience with wireless networks. He currently serves as a leading engineer on broadband wireless networks and related national and international policy issues at the FCC. He has experience in providing engineering and program management in conceptual technology phase and implementation, as well as testing and operation of broadband and mobile networks. Mr. Sleem previously held the position of Vice President of Network Engineering for Wireless Facilities, Inc. prior to joining the Commission.
Walter Johnston, Liaison to ERIC for the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) - Mr. Johnston is a leading expert for the FCC on network convergence and Internet-related issues, as well as public safety technologies and evolution. He has a broad and diverse background in the design and support of advanced communications systems. Mr. Johnston previously held the position of Chief Technology Officer for Sonova Networks prior to joining the Commission.

FCC Report on Public Safety Network

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a comprehensive white paper study that builds on the National Broadband Plan recommendations to create an economically viable, technically sound, and robust interoperable public safety wireless broadband network across America.

Entitled A Broadband Network Cost Model: The Basis for Public Funding Essential to bringing Nationwide Interoperable Communications to America's First Responders, the study offers a detailed analysis of how the FCC's plan for creation and funding of the network would meet public safety's needs for accessibility, reliability, and affordability, while saving the nation approximately $18 billion or more in capital and operating expenditures over a 10-year period. The plan would also ensure true interoperability for public safety across the nation, stretching beyond large cities and metropolitan areas and into rural America.

The FCC study examines the merits of the Plan's comprehensive strategy to create a nationwide interoperable public safety wireless broadband network for first responders and other public safety agencies that accounts for sufficient capacity on a day-to-day and emergency basis; ensures interoperability; and dedicates funding to the nationwide deployment of a resilient, redundant and robust network.

A major highlight of the study's analysis shows that the FCC's recommendation to capitalize on commercial network build-out at the same time the public safety network is created would cost approximately $6.5 billion over 10 years, significantly less than the projected $15.7 billion in capital costs associated with building a stand-alone public safety network.

In addition, the FCC's analysis indicates that to build and operate a stand-alone public safety network would be substantially more expensive than a network constructed under the FCC's recommended incentive-based approach. The study projects $12 to $16 billion in network costs for upgrades and operations within the first 10 years of the network's existence, while the cost for a stand-alone public safety network over the same 10-year period is projected at $25 billion.

Some primary reasons the costs increase exponentially for a stand-alone public safety network are: (1) public safety would not be able to easily leverage commercial resources and technologies associated with the build out of the network, (2) public safety could not capitalize on existing commercial cell sites and towers, and (3) public safety could not gain access to equipment, including portable radios, at commercially competitive prices. Conversely, the FCC's plan for an incentive-based partnership to build the public safety wireless broadband network would establish a public grant funding program to pay for capital and operating expenses and would build in incentives to enable public safety to leverage commercial technologies and resources.

A Giant Leap & A Big Deal: Delivering on the Promise of Equal Access to Broadband for People with Disabilities

With broadband technologies, we have the opportunity to consider accessibility issues relatively early in the deployment process and ensure that people with disabilities share fully in the benefits of broadband. Even more, broadband "bridge[s] gaps and provide[s] opportunities that were inconceivable in the past. We cannot realize the full potential of broadband, however, unless we fully consider the needs of people with disabilities. As a threshold matter, for example, broadband needs to be defined in a way that recognizes the importance of two-way video capabilities. We also must understand and address the barriers faced by people with disabilities.

This paper will first consider numerous barriers to broadband usage faced by people with disabilities, including inaccessible hardware, software, and services, and inaccessible web content. It will also identify barriers related to specialized assistive technologies that people with disabilities use to gain access to broadband services as well as barriers faced by specific populations within the disability community. Next, the paper will discuss existing private sector efforts to address these barriers, including the advances made by industry innovation and collaborative efforts. It examines how government grant programs and legal and regulatory measures address these barriers as well.

After identifying existing barriers and efforts, this paper next considers the gaps in current efforts to address accessibility for people with disabilities and the needs that must be met if we are to accelerate the adoption path for people with disabilities. Specifically, the government must:

Improve implementation and enforcement of existing accessibility laws;
Gather and analyze more information about disability-specific broadband adoption issues;
Coordinate accessibility policy and spending priorities;
Update accessibility regulations;
Update subsidy programs and ensure the availability of training and support; and
Update its approach to accessibility problem solving.

Finally, this paper reviews the three broad recommendations from the National Broadband Plan which seek to address the range of disability access concerns and discusses how the recommendations address the needs identified above. The recommendations include: (1) the creation of a Broadband Accessibility Working Group ("BAWG") within the Executive Branch; (2) the establishment of an Accessibility and Innovation Forum at the FCC; and (3) the modernization of accessibility laws, rules, and related subsidy programs by the FCC, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), and Congress.

Small Business and the National Broadband Plan

In December 2009, Sen Mary Landrieu, chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, wrote Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski about small businesses and the National Broadband Plan. Especially in rural areas, Chairman Landrieu wrote, the lack of broadband is stifling small businesses. She asked the FCC to should review ways to further incentivize broadband deployment in rural areas.

In February 2010, Chairman Landrieu followed up with specific recommendation she hoped to see in the broadband plan: 1) Creation of a Broadband and Emerging Technologies Coordinator at the Small Business Administration, 2) Centralized information about Federal Broadband Programs, 3) Including Broadband in SBA Entrepreneurial Development Programs, and 4) Focusing on Existing Innovation Programs.

On April 1, FCC Chairman Genachowski wrote back ensuring Sen Landrieu that the plan includes recommendations, strategies, and initiatives to empower small businesses - particularly a recommendation to foster development of a public-private partnership for small businesses. The Plan also recognizes the need for tools and training to enable small businesses to maximize the benefits of broadband. Mobile broadband will play a key role in bringing access to the areas of the nation beyond the reach of standard cable and DSL services. The Plan also recommends a major transformation of the Universal Service Fund converting it over time to broadband support and freeing up more resources to build 21st century communications networks.

FCC's McDowell against reclassification, citing courts

Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell said Friday that he wouldn't support putting broadband services under the same regulatory regime as phone services, saying such a move would face significant legal challenge.

Commissioner McDowell said that a classification of broadband Internet providers as Title II service carriers would get overturned in court. "That would start smelling to a court like arbitrary and capricious," he said. Instead, he said he supports a move by Congress to clarify the agency's authority over broadband under Title I, a category over which the agency now has only "ancillary" oversight. Commissioner McDowell added that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's push for new network neutrality rules appeared in trouble after the court decision. He said that it is "a myth" that broadband net access services were once regulated as a Title II Telecommunications service, pointing to a 1998 report to Congress from then-FCC Chairman Bill Kennard that he said made it explicit that Internet services were not regulated telecom services, and had said that it could even be harmful to treat them as such.

McDowell Cautions FCC About Getting Into Arbitration Business

Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell suggested the FCC needs to tread carefully in its inquiry into the retransmission consent process, saying suggestions it get into the arbitration business might not sit well with the courts. He said that the 1992 Cable Act is clear that simply asking for more money does not constitute bad faith, and that the FCC is confined by statute to looking at whether retransmission negotiations are being conducted in good or bad faith. He also pointed out that the "vast majority" of retransmission deals are done without incident.

FCC Jurisdiction: Trust in the Law

[Commentary] The Comcast v. Federal Communications Commission decision has called into question the FCC's authority to act in the broadband arena. But in the debate over what the FCC's next step should be, it seems that many have chosen to ignore history, describing as "radical" the legal framework for innovation and competition that Congress established for our nation's two-way communications networks. The legislative process is designed to produce laws that are flexible, that are grounded in bedrock principle, and that withstand the test of time. Our Communications Act is guided by the principles of universal service, non-discrimination, interconnection, competition and reasoned deregulation. These principles, through the framework of the 1996 Act, were intended to foster the development of a robust, advanced and competitive two-way communications market -- regardless of changes in technologies. But because of flaws in the implementation of the law, not in the law itself, some of the goals of the Communications Act have yet to be achieved, and the principles themselves are now in jeopardy.

Regulating the Internet

[Commentary] Verizon answer's a New York Times editorial that said, "It is untenable for the United States not to have a regulator to ensure nondiscriminatory access, guarantee interconnectivity among rival networks and protect consumers from potential abuse." The company's Chief Communications Officer answers, "Actually, the Internet and consumers have thrived. Interconnectivity occurred seamlessly, and in the very few instances of potential harm, the marketplace and the Federal Communications Commission acted quickly.

Benton

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