April 2010

Transmission Project Lauds National Broadband Plan

[Commentary] The Transmission Project congratulates the Federal Communications Commission on its formal release of a National Broadband Plan.

The emphasis on creating value, improving care and maximizing consumer welfare is an environment where connectivity is presumed and expected represents a dramatic shift in perspective for the Commission and is to be lauded. Capitalizing on available resources and opportunities such as wireless backhaul spectrum, "dig once" policies and existing community institutions and programs working to increase civic engagement is indeed the most efficient path forward toward reaching the goals set forth. We do hope that greater emphasis and clarity will develop in the strategies to ensure affordability to low-income Americans and support them in adoption. The proposed National Digital Literacy Corps, much like the Transmission Project's own Digital Arts Service Corps, is an important tool to support not only individual skill development, but also to strengthen organizations and schools to increase civic engagement and create content for the constituencies that trust them in their communities. With the launch of the National Broadband Plan, some believe that the hard work is just beginning. In the field we know that the hard work continues and that this plan will help to lay a foundation for renewed support of this work.

Stations Warned About Cash-Hungry States

Broadcast station owners are worried that 2011 could see the return of the debate over sales tax on services, including advertising.

House Lawmakers Voice Concern About Google Buzz

A group of House Commerce Committee members are urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate complaints that Google's Buzz social networking service and some of its other services may harm consumer privacy.

In a letter sent to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, the lawmakers urged the agency to investigate whether Google disclosed personal information about its customers without their consent as part of the launch of Buzz in February. The letter also asks the FTC to probe how much Google uses personal information collected from Buzz and its other services to target ads and how Google's proposed acquisition of AdMob will affect how it delivers ads. "We are writing to express our concern over claims that Google's 'Google Buzz' social networking tool breaches online consumer privacy and trust," according to the letter signed by Reps. John Barrow (D-GA), who led the effort, Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), Mike Burgess (R-TX), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Tim Murphy (R-PA), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Mike Rogers (R-MI), Steve Scalise (R-LA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Commerce Committee ranking member Joe Barton (R-TX), and Del. Donna Christensen (D-Virgin Islands).

The Digital Divide Will Ensure a Broadband Ghetto

[Commentary] If you live in New York City or in any of the heavily populated and wealthy areas of the Northeast, you likely have access to some of the fastest broadband speeds available in the country. If you live in a suburb of Austin, Texas, however, you're offered speeds some six times slower for about half the price. And as the technologies race ahead for network access, ISPs with fiber to the home and cable-provided Docsis 3.0 service are going to surpass the speeds that providers using old-school copper and even wireless can offer. Which means that while some people will be living in the 21st century, great chunks of the country will be subsisting on the 2010 version of dial-up. Don't believe me? Verizon has tested a tech that requires software upgrades to deliver a 10 Gbps connection that's shared among 32 homes. Meanwhile, technologies such as the next generation from AT&T are going to require swapping out gear at the node and inside your home so the companies still using copper can squeak up to speeds that most analysts doubt will even reach 100 Mbps. That means a hundred-fold disparity in connection speeds. Holy cow.

PE Firm Plans Open LTE Network to Challenge AT&T and Verizon

A New York private equity firm plans to build a multibillion-dollar 4G wireless network that will cover most of the country by 2015.

The ambitious plan by Harbinger Capital Partners relies on deploying a Long Term Evolution network over spectrum owned by a few satellite companies — and would create an open wholesale wireless network available to retail companies, PC manufacturers or anyone who wants to offer mobile broadband. The new network will rely initially on 23 MHz spectrum owned by SkyTerra, which is owned by Harbinger, and could later include spectrum from Terrestar Networks, another satellite firm in which Harbinger holds a stake. The Harbinger network could help ensure competition among the major wireless carriers thanks to the conditions the FCC has placed on the spectrum that the private equity firm plans to use as part an agreement to let Harbinger take control of SkyTerra — namely that SkyTerra has to be a wholesaler, and that traffic from the largest and second-largest wireless carriers in the U.S. cannot comprise more than 25 percent of the traffic over the SkyTerra/Harbinger network. This means AT&T and Verizon could not buy up huge chunks of the network or spectrum to keep others off of it.

The National Broadband Plan--A Work in Progress

[Commentary] The National Broadband Plan operates under the flawed presumption that broadband competition exists, or soon will flourish, with particular emphasis on wireless broadband options that currently have failed to match the bitrate deliver speeds of wireline options. Additionally, the Commission appears content with finding new wireless broadband spectrum for incumbent carriers, without considering whether the scope of competition, as well as broadband access and affordability might be enhanced by reserving some newly available spectrum for market entrants. The Plan avoids addressing network interconnection, neutrality and sharing requirements that other nations have adopted with measureable success.

Verizon winds down expensive FiOS expansion

If Verizon Communications Inc. hasn't already started wiring your city or town with its FiOS fiber-optic TV and broadband service, chances are you won't get it. Where it's available, FiOS usually provides the only competition for cable TV apart from satellite service. Studies have shown that its entry into an area leads to lower cable prices, though FiOS itself has not been undercutting cable TV prices substantially. But Verizon is nearing the end of its program to replace copper phone lines with optical fibers that provide much higher Internet speeds and TV service. Its focus is now on completing the network in the communities where it's already secured "franchises," the rights to sell TV service that rivals cable, said spokeswoman Heather Wilner. That means Verizon will continue to pull fiber to homes in Washington (DC), New York City and Philadelphia — projects that will take years to complete — but leaves such major cities as Baltimore and downtown Boston without FiOS.

From Chalk To Bytes: The Digital Classroom

The sound of chalk on a blackboard is something you rarely hear on many campuses these days. That's because more and more professors use technology to distribute course materials, issue grades and enhance communication with students. For centuries, teachers have lectured to students and taught by writing things down. But software used by many schools, colleges and universities is making the dialogue between teachers and students more wired than ever. Philip Wirtz, a professor of decision sciences and psychology at The George Washington University (GWU), presents some complicated material during his statistical modeling and analysis class. To help students follow along, he uses a software program called Blackboard to share slides, which students download before class. "It's really just sort of a mechanism for coordinating what would otherwise be paper in the course," Wirtz says. But it's not just about saving trees. "It's a one-stop shop where students can come and get absolutely any access to me, any access to the teaching assistants," Wirtz adds.

Justice Will Not Challenge Cisco-Tandberg Deal

The Department of Justice announced March 29 that it will not challenge Cisco Systems Inc.'s acquisition of Tandberg ASA. The department has concluded that the proposed deal is not likely to be anticompetitive due to the evolving nature of the videoconferencing market and the commitments that Cisco has made to the European Commission (EC) to facilitate interoperability.

During the course of its investigation the Department of Justice cooperated closely with the EC in its parallel review of the transaction, aided by waivers from the parties and industry participants. This permitted the agencies to share information and assessments of likely competitive effects and potential remedies. The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division analyzed the effect of combining the videoconferencing businesses of Cisco and Tandberg, focusing on a type of videoconferencing known as "telepresence," in which Cisco and Tandberg are competitors. Telepresence is a form of high-definition videoconferencing that provides an immersive experience to users, simulating face-to-face meetings. The department conducted an extensive investigation of this dynamic marketplace, including numerous interviews of industry participants and customers, and review of documents provided by the parties and other firms in the videoconferencing business. The EC also announced that it has cleared the transaction. Cisco has made commitments to facilitate interoperability between its telepresence products and those of other companies as part of the EC's merger clearance process. The commitments are designed to foster the development of open operating standards. The department views those commitments as a positive development that likely will enhance competition among producers of telepresence systems. Open standards lower barriers to entry, and can be especially procompetitive in rapidly evolving high technology markets. The department has taken the commitments into account, along with various market factors, such as the evolving nature of the telepresence business, in reaching its decision to close its investigation.

Levin: Reclaiming Spectrum For Broadband Puts FCC On 'Right Side' Of History

The Federal Communications Commission's Blair Levin said March 26 that he believed the national broadband plan's proposal to reclaim spectrum from broadcasters -- and other incumbent users -- put it on "the right side of history" and was one of the parts of the plan he was most proud of.

In an interview with C-SPAN's Communicators series, Levin declined to comment directly on a recent speech by his former boss, then FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, that Hundt's plan had always been for broadband to replace broadcasting as the national medium. Levin said he would leave the media historian post to Hundt for now. But he said what was "certainly true" was that every country needed a "common medium that has certain characteristics." He did not elaborate on those, but he conceded that the FCC had made a number of decisions back then (in the mid-1990's) "that were useful to the Internet and to broadband." Levin said that it was the market driving the move to broadband. He cited a report in 2000 that found that 80% of the respondents would rather give up the Internet than TV, compared with today, when "a majority of people say they would rather give up television. If you look up the under-45 [age group], it is overwhelming. That is consumers speaking. That is the market speaking."

Benton

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