June 2010

Adelstein: Rural Areas Need Fast Broadband Too

Rural Utilities Service Administrator Jonathan Adelstein said Tuesday that urban and rural areas should have the same speed of broadband service. The National Broadband Plan does not call for the same speed of broadband service in rural America, but Adelstein told the Broadband Breakfast Club, "I don't think there should be a differential in the speed of service."

Curtis Anderson, a former RUS official, said he was disturbed that the Federal Communications Commission concluded it would be impractical to propose that broadband service be as fast in rural America as in cities but said he would differentiate between the speed needed for homes and that needed for institutions such as hospitals and schools.

Rural Providers Appeal to USDA on Broadband Plan

The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, and the Western Telecommunications Alliance have written Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to express concern about the negative impact the National Broadband Plan (NBP) would have on rural areas and the people living in these areas.

The staff of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has developed a proposal for broadband deployment support and regulation that would create a rural/urban digital divide and put existing rural broadband networks at risk. This proposal not only creates uncertainty, it jeopardizes infrastructure investment, future debt equity loans for carriers, and the repayment of Rural Utilities Service (RUS) loans. There is grave concern about the ability of our members to pay back existing communications loans made by RUS. Some rural communications providers that have been approved for Broadband Initiative Program loans under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are now reconsidering the viability of repaying these loans in the future if the NBP is implemented in its current form.

Wireless industry pushes back on data roaming regulation

Verizon and AT&T, the nation's two largest wireless carriers, oppose the Federal Communications Commission's proposed data roaming rules for mobile devices, arguing further regulation will harm consumers and discourage private investment.

The proposed rules would require carriers to sign agreements to allow reciprocal roaming on each other's networks without users being hit with high roaming charges. The FCC already has a similar policy in place with regards to mobile voice services, but data services like mobile Internet and e-mail were excepted from that 2007 rule. In comments submitted June 14 to the FCC, Verizon argued the rules are unnecessary because a number of carriers — including Verizon — have already entered into voluntary roaming agreements with each other. Verizon also claims the FCC lacks the authority to police data roaming because it is not a common carrier service and not covered under the Communications Act.

The Public Safety Nationwide Interoperable Broadband Network, A New Model For Capacity, Performance and Cost

This new white paper provides the capacity analysis behind the National Broadband Plan recommendations for the deployment and operation of a nationwide 4G wireless public safety network that allows first responders to seamlessly communicate across geographies and agencies, regardless of devices.

The paper shows that the 10 MHz of dedicated spectrum currently allocated to public safety will provide the capacity and performance necessary for day-to-day communications and serious emergency situations. One study cited in the white paper shows that 10 MHz of spectrum can yield the same capacity as over 160 MHz if the correct technology, architecture, and devices are used. As part of this analysis, the FCC examined two real life events, the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse and Hurricane Ike hitting Houston, and additional empirical data which supports this conclusion.

Public Meeting on Impact on Regulation of Converged Communications and Health Care Devices

Following up on the National Broadband Plan's recommendation to use the power of broadband to improve health care, the nation's lead agencies overseeing communications and medical devices have scheduled a joint meeting to discuss ways to promote investment and innovation in health technology by streamlining government processes.

The joint public meeting on July 26-27 between the Federal Communications Commission and the Food and Drug Administration reflects a commitment by the two agencies to work even more closely to ensure the safety and reliability of wireless broadband-enabled medical devices while increasing their availability to consumers and health care providers. This collaboration is a critical step in the development and approval of new wireless medical devices and applications that hold great promise for improving the quality of health care and reducing costs. The FCC and FDA are also seeking comment on converged communications and health care devices impact on regulation. Comments are due June 25.

NCTA To FCC: End Set-Top Integration Ban

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has offered up its short-term fixes to the CableCARD regime, including the suggestion that the Federal Communications Commission stop requiring any more cards be deployed for a system the FCC wants to phase out.

In comments to the FCC, NCTA said it was time to end the integration band. The FCC had mandated that cable operators separate the security and channel-surfing functions in set-tops as a way to spur a retail market in the boxes. Both the FCC and cable operators are in agreement that a robust market has not resulted from the ban. NCTA says that it has deployed about 20-million of the CableCARD devices since the FCC's July 2007 mandate, and says that is enough.

Arts+Labs To FCC: Keep A Close Eye On Search Engines, Online Ad Nets

Arts+Labs has told the Federal Communications Commission that if it wants to look at the future of media, it needs to keep a close eye on the present of search engines and online ad networks.

In comments to the FCC in its Future of Media inquiry,Arts+Labs, the alliance of Microsoft, NBC Universal, Viacom, Verizon, AT&T ASCAP and others, argued that the Internet is replacing newspapers as the first place a "growing number" of Americans go for information (local TV was not mentioned as part of that equation). "Search engines and the companies that provide them, therefore, have enormous influence over where people go online - what websites they visit, what news and information sources they rely on, what online retailers they frequent and online services they use." according to Arts+Labs.

Bloomberg Asks FCC to Extend Comcast-NBCU Review

Bloomberg LP has asked the Federal Communications Commission to delay its comment deadline on the Comcast-NBC Universal deal for another 45 days, which would push the deadline into mid-September.

The current deadline is June 21 for comments and petitions to deny the deal. But Bloomberg, in a filing posted June 15, said that it, and the public, needs more time to vet new information the two companies submitted in two economic reports June 10 -- on the claimed economic benefits from the proposed $30 billion joint venture and the other on its impact on online video distribution. In a filing with the FCC, Bloomberg asks that it move the deadline to Aug. 5, which would push the deadline for oppositions to those comments to Sept. 4 and reply comments to Sept. 19. Bloomberg, which signed a protective order to gain access to confidential info about the deal, says it would not have adequate time to review information, given that the two-business-day wait to get copies of reports would leave them only three business days for reviewing them.

A year of digital TV: who won the transition?

Remember the digital television transition? The nationwide switch from analog to digital over-the-air television broadcasting crossed the finish line a year ago this past Saturday. So why do we feel like we're asking something akin to "Remember gopher?" That's probably because after all the sturm und drang over the event subsided, there was remarkably little interest in what happened to the millions of people and almost 1,800 full-power TV stations impacted by the change. Who would have predicted such a blasé attitude back then? For two years the preparation for the Great Trek was accompanied by one cliffhanger moment after another.

From post office to 'Net: FBI's Most Wanted cybercriminals

Photos of bank robbers used to line the walls of post offices across the US as part of the FBI's "Most Wanted" lists. You may not notice them when you have the occasion to walk into your local post office, but the Most Wanted lists are alive and well. Those lists have entered the digital age on the FBI's website, and there's a whole category dedicated to the top five most wanted cybercriminals. Most of these cases are years old (some extending back to 1996) and, by today's cybercrime standards, some are downright quaint. Still, even ripping a few thousand people off on eBay can get the FBI's attention, so we thought we'd take a look at the FBI's top five most wanted cybercriminals are and what they did to get on the list.

Benton

Search