May 2010

Raw data isn't always the same as government transparency, said speakers and audience members during a May 25 session at the Gov 2.0 Expo in Washington, D.C.

Said one audience member, "there are lies, damned lies, statistics and government data." John Sheridan, head of e-Services and Strategy at the United Kingdom's Office of Public Sector Information and co-chair of the W3C's eGovernment Interest Group, said it's important that agencies consider whether or not they are publishing data responsibly. "If I put a CSV file with some statistics on the web, that's great. But often there's a piece of context--maybe we changed the way we calculated the figure between two sets between 2002 and 2003. Maybe there's a particular piece of prominence associated with the data in terms of how it was collected or which agency collected it," said Sheridan. That information should be incorporated into the data in some way.

India's government got bids totaling 41.8 billion rupees ($884 million) on the third day of an auction for licenses to offer faster wireless broadband for computers nationwide, according to a statement on the Department of Telecommunications's website.

Eleven companies, including Qualcomm Inc., the world's biggest maker of mobile-phone chips, and Vodafone Group Plc, the largest mobile carrier by sales, are competing for two bandwidth slots in each of 22 regional zones in the world's second-largest wireless market by subscribers. To ensure nationwide spectrum, a company would have to win bids in all 22 zones. Nine companies bid 509.7 billion rupees for licenses to offer third-generation, mobile-phone services last week. None of them, including Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's biggest wireless operator, and Vodafone, acquired the rights to national 3G coverage by winning licenses in all 22 regions up for auction. That may drive them to bid for broadband spectrum to fill the gaps.

On May 25, the Federal Communications Commission released the findings of an agency survey on the consumer mobile experience. The survey indicated that 30 million Americans -- or one in six mobile users -- have experienced "bill shock," a sudden increase in their monthly bill that is not caused by a change in service plan. It also shows that nearly half of cell phone users who have plans with early termination fees (ETFs) -- and almost two-thirds of home broadband users with ETFs -- don't know the amount of the fees they're accountable for. The survey notes that 83 percent of adults in this country have a cell phone, and 80 percent have a personal cell phone (i.e., one for which their employer does not pay the bill). 58 percent of cell-phone users say they are very satisfied with the number of places they can get a good signal.

The survey finds that of the 30 million Americans who have experienced bill shock:

• 84 percent said their mobile carrier did not contact them when they were about to exceed their allowed minutes, text messages, or data downloads.
• 88 percent said their carrier did not contact them after their bill suddenly increased.

The amount of bill shock varies widely but is often sizeable. In the survey, more than a third of people who experienced bill shock said their bills jumped by at least $50, and 23 percent said the increase was $100 or more.

The survey also asked consumers about early termination fees for cell phone and broadband service. Of the respondents with personal cell phones, 54 percent said they would have to pay an ETF should they terminate their contracts before the expiration date, and 18 percent didn't know whether they would have to pay or not. Of those who are subject to an ETF, 43 percent said it was $150 or more, but 47 percent didn't know how much it was. One reason for the confusion is billing practices: Only 36 percent of cell phone customers who are familiar with their bills said that they include "very clear" information on ETFs.

The findings were similar for home broadband termination fees, with some differences. Only 21 percent of home broadband users say that their contracts include an early termination fee. Of those consumers, however, fully 64 percent don't know what the fee is -- a higher level of confusion than for cell phone service.

The survey shows that ETFs are one factor that can keep cell phone customers from switching carriers even when their service is not ideal. Forty-three percent of these customers said ETFs were a major reason they would stay with their current service, almost exactly the same number who said they would be deterred from switching by the cost of setting up a new service or by paying a deposit on a new service.

On March 3, 2010, Rep Bennie Thompson (D-MS) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski recommending that the FCC, in crafting the National Broadband Plan, consider promoting infrastructure expansion, require affordable service through regulatory measures; prescribe data collection, implement requirement tracking of equity impacts and support last mile projects that improve public health and education and stimulate economic development and job creation.

He asked the FCC take the following steps:

1. Promote federal support for projects that combine Infrastructure expansion, community access and development of demand.
2. Require affordable service In communities of color and low-Income communities through subsidies or expansion of the Universal Service Fund Lifeline.
3. Prescribe reporting and publication requirements that allow assessment of project impacts in low-opportunity communities and communities of color.
4. Call for funding for projects that solve the last mile problem for providers of important services such as health and education and initiatives that foster job creation and economic development.

On May 12, Chairman Genachowski replied, noting that many of the ideas Rep Thompson proposed are incorporated into the broadband plan.