Businesses and consumers across the EU are plagued by high prices because of inconsistent application of EU telecoms rules, the European Commission says. Mobile phone call charges range from 0.04 euro per minute in Latvia to 0.24 in Malta, a Commission report says. Big price differences are hampering efforts to create a single market in EU telecoms. There was zero growth in EU telecoms in 2009, while the overall EU economy saw a 4.2% decline.
The United Kingdom's coalition government is considering new legislation to cut the cost of rolling out high-speed broadband across the UK, in order to get fiber access to more areas and to encourage new companies to become broadband providers. The government believes reducing the investment needed to lay fiber could spur more extensive fiber rollout than has been planned so far, a spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said on Thursday.
China's long-awaited Telecom Law once more is back on the legislative agenda.
The Financial and Economic Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) - China's legislature - has submitted the latest draft bill to the State Council. The law was first proposed in 1980 - the early days of China's reform" period - but has since been delayed because of objections from officials, legislators and telecom carriers over the years.
Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) has written a letter to Christine Varney, assistant attorney general and head of the antitrust division of the Justice Department, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski saying that if the regulators approve the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, they should include conditions to prevent injury to consumers and competitors.
Those conditions include:
1) The new company makes all Comcast and NBC Universal shows and channels available to all competitors (Time Warner Cable, Verizon's FiOs, DirectTV) on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis. That condition would apply even if the FCC changes its program access rules.
2) Comcast and NBC would put up a "firewall" to prevent information sharing between Comcast and NBC regarding pricing or other contract terms offered by Comcast's competitors to purchase programming.
3) Comcast couldn't block out other programmers who want their content on Comcast. In other words, Comcast can't favor its programming over that of a competitor such as CBS. That condition would stay in place even if the FCC changed its program carriage rules.
4) Comcast couldn't prevent or coerce programmers from keeping their content off Web sites or Internet distributors as a condition for carriage on Comcast. That condition would allow for a reasonable "window" or programming, such as a first-run video, to be exclusive to Comcast, but only for a reasonable period.
5) Comcast would also have to make its NBC and Comcast programs and channels available via the Web to competitors on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms in the same way cable/satellite program-access rules apply.
6) Comcast divests NBC's 32 percent stake in Hulu within a year of the acquisition.
7) Comcast and NBC keep a firewall between advertising in markets where NBC owns and operates a broadcast station.
8) Net neutrality: Comcast couldn't discriminate or degrade the quality on its broadband network, any Internet distribution of programming that competes with Comcast or its TV everywhere program.
Facebook is simplifying its privacy controls amid growing unrest from many of its users.
Protesters have been organizing campaigns to quit Facebook and privacy groups have complained to regulators after Facebook announced new features last month, including "instant personalization" that tailors other websites to users' Facebook profiles. "A lot of people are upset with us," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday. He said that as Facebook offered more granularity in its privacy choices, the settings have become too complex for many users. He said Facebook is trying to simplify the controls - and making them apply retroactively and to new services that have yet to launch. Facebook said the changes will be rolled out in the coming weeks. It's not yet clear whether the latest changes will quell user unease. Facebook hopes they do. "One of the big takeaways is just don't mess with the privacy stuff for a long time," Zuckerberg said. In a statement, the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based advocacy group, said that "while more work still needs to be done, these changes are the building blocks for giving people what they want and deserve."
The leaders of the House Commerce Committee are increasing pressure on Google to provide more information about data the Internet firm says it mistakenly collected from private Wi-Fi networks.
In a letter Wednesday to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), ranking member Joe Barton (R-TX), and Rep Edward Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the panel, voiced concern about the incident and about Google's attempts to explain it. "We are concerned that Google did not disclose until long after the fact that consumers' Internet use was being recorded, analyzed and perhaps profiled," the lawmakers wrote. "In addition, we are concerned about the completeness and accuracy of Google's public explanations about this matter." They submitted a long list of questions for Schmidt and asked for a response by June 7. The questions included: What communities did Street View vehicles target for data collection from Wi-Fi networks? Were citizens in the affected communities notified about the data collection and offered a chance to consent to the practice? What is Google doing to ensure a similar incident doesn't happen again with new products and services?
More than half (57%) of adult Internet users say they have used a search engine to look up their name and see what information was available about them online, up from 47% who did so in 2006.
Young adults, far from being indifferent about their digital footprints, are the most active online reputation managers in several dimensions. For example, more than two-thirds (71%) of social networking users ages 18-29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online. These findings form the centerpiece of a new report from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project that looks at reputation and online identity management in the age of social media. The report is based on a telephone survey conducted in August and September of 2009 of 2,253 adults, ages 18 and older, including 560 cell phone interviews. Reputation management has now become a defining feature of online life for many Internet users, especially the young. While some Internet users are careful to project themselves online in a way that suits specific audiences, other Internet users embrace an open approach to sharing information about themselves and do not take steps to restrict what they share.
[Commentary] The Internet has resulted in profound structural changes to the telecommunications industry. It has been able to do what regulators have been unable to do-that is structurally separate the applications layer from the network layer. As a result of this structural separation, we have seen a proliferation of new businesses, new applications, and an improvement in productivity. Previously, networks were constructed for a specific application. And for the first time, the Internet allows new businesses to be created, which do not require the construction of a facilities-based network. We have benefited from an open Internet. The value of the Internet increases as the square of the number of users (Metcalfe's Law) times the number of applications used. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in its recently proposed rules, is attempting to codify that openness and protect consumers. This is a question of truth in advertising. All broadband is not broadband Internet access. It is the policy of our government to promote broadband access, but what is really meant is broadband Internet access, as it is this interconnected network of networks with multiple applications that has created the miracle of communications known as the Internet.
[Dave Schaeffer is the Chief Executive Officer of Cogent Communications.]
Comcast chief financial officer Michael Angelakis warned regulators at an industry conference Wednesday that any attempt by the government to impose heavy restrictions on the cable broadband business could force companies to turn off the infrastructure investment spigot.
Angelakis speaking at the Barclay's Capital 2010 Global Communications, Media and Technology conference in New York, said that Comcast was disappointed that Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski has opted to reclassify broadband as a Title II telecommunications service, which could open the business to more onerous restrictions. Genachowski has vowed to apply a light hand to broadband regulation, and Angelakis said the industry will have to take the chairman at his word. But he said if the regulatory environment becomes "distressed," that could force cable operators, Comcast included, to curtail investment.
It appears that many of the nation's leading Internet service providers aren't actually worried about the Federal Communications Commission's "Third Way" approach to broadband oversight and its impact on broadband build-out and investment - despite what they're telling lawmakers in Washington.
Time Warner Cable COO Landel Hobbs' comments regarding the FCC's proposal during an investor conference on May 19, 2010: "It is a light regulatory touch that their focus is really to put them in a position where they can execute around their national broadband plan, not to rate regulate or crush investment in our sector. That's not at all what we believe. So, I want you to take away as, yes, we will continue to invest, yes, we will participate in the Notice of Inquiries and we will have an open, healthy dialogue with the FCC throughout the whole process."
Sprint Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Vonya B. McCann's statement issued May 6, 2010 regarding the FCC's plans to apply new rules to broadband services: "Sprint appreciates the FCC's statement that any regulation it may assert would be through a light regulatory touch. ...Sprint commends the FCC for the cautious approach it is taking toward this complex subject. The FCC can and should foster similar growth in broadband by focusing its energies on protecting consumers by promoting competition and placing checks and balances on providers with market power."
Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts discussed the issue at the Cable Show in Los Angeles on May 12, 2010, according to SNL Kagan, a business intelligence news source: "I honestly don't believe the government is trying to turn the clock back," Roberts explained, adding that "the government is not a big worry." SNL Kagan wrote, "Given the potential impact of reclassification on broadband pricing, Roberts said he expects the industry to continue to invest, innovate and work through the government issues."
Windstream President and CEO Jeffery Gardner's comments, according to SNL Kagan regarding the FCC's broadband oversight during an investor conference, May 18, 2010: Gardner said there has been "a bit of an overreaction" as he believes FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski understands the importance of a light regulatory touch in overseeing broadband networks. "I don't think that there is tremendous financial risk out there with respect to this ... issue. We would prefer less regulation, but as I said I am confident that the chairman understands the issue."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon Wireless Chief Executive Lowell McAdam is saying that Verizon is continuing to invest in its wireless LTE network and that the company has no plans to slow investment in its wireless broadband network as a result of the FCC's move.
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